The Fade War
by wcv
Summary: Following the Kirkwall revolt the Chantry has been in full retreat as the army of Orsino drives north against Antiva. With the war nearly lost Justinia tries to unite the few neutral parties behind her to stop the mages. Meanwhile Orlais rips itself apart, the Fereldan Wardens are withdrawn from the world, and in the north Tevinter dies. A sequel to The Road to Hell.
1. Introduction

**A/N: This is a quick summary of events over the past two stories for those who either want a refresher, or who are interested in reading this without reading through the others. I will also include a bit of a "where are they now" section at the end to talk about certain people who featured in the actual game, and how they have since been effected. And as always, if there are specific questions feel free to ask and I will do my best to get back to you.**

 **Also of course, just a reminder that this is told from both a limited and biased perspective, more than one in this story. If two narrators contradict each other, get details wrong etc. it is probably because one (or both) is lying or simply incorrect. I might occasionally interject clarify a detail that both missed to make events make more sense, but this will overall be rare, except in the historical segments.**

Introduction:

Taken from: _Selected Important Dates in Fereldan History_

by Michael Hart

Published 10.26 SA. University of Denerim Press

Dragon…

9.30:

Beginning of the Fifth Blight in the Korcari Wilds. King Cailan I Therein gathers a royal army to combat the surge of darkspawn on the surface, alongside the contingent of Fereldan Wardens. Loghain Mac Tir betrays the King and abandons the army to die, resulting in some eight thousand dead. Darkspawn losses are never counted, but official estimated place the numbers at between ten and fifteen thousand. Following the battle Darkspawn forces retreat back into the Deep Roads to gather more forces.

Two survivors of the army, Alistair Therein and William Clark escape the destruction of the army through the intervention of an apostate within the Wilds. Through the actions of King Alistair a demon occupation of Redcliffe is defeated and an attempted rebellion in the Circle is removed. The future Arlessa Solona Amell formally undertakes the Joining.

Other survivors of Ostagar include Garrett Hawke and Commander Cauthrien…

9.31

The Urn of Sacred Ashes is recovered from its resting place in the Frostback Mountains. The Urn is used to heal the poisoning of Arl Eamon Guerrin of Redcliffe, who promptly calls a Landsmeet. The Landsmeet sides with Alistair's claim to the throne, and he is crowned King Alistair I Therein.

King Bhelen is crowned by the Paragon Caridin.

Outside the city of Denerim the Archdemon's army is destroyed. Following a series of disagreements between the crown and the Grey Wardens King Alistair orders the group expelled from Fereldan[1].

9.32

The Chantry issues a sum of money to Fereldan to rebuild the Highways leading to the Urn, and build a Temple in its place. The money rapidly runs out, recent audits of the Fereldan expense reports suggests it is likely virtually every expense reported was inflated by at least 100%. Due to the Fereldans utilizing a more modern form of bookkeeping (and one unfamiliar to the Chantry) these went unnoticed by any except those involved. What happened to the money remains a historical mystery.

9.34

Rebellious nobles led by Arl Lendon vote to remove the King from power, a vote which is promptly ignored. The Landsmeet Crisis begins, and ultimately ends with a noble surrender as their army deserts them. Following the Crisis the membership of the Landsmeet is increased significantly, primarily through the introduction of wealthy freeholders and other supporters of the Crown. While mostly a measure to curb the Landsmeet's power the expansion of the franchise would lay the basis for the eventual Fereldan Senate.

9.35:

Following elven riots in the city Grand Duke Gaspard de Chalons puts down the city, precipitated a confrontation between the Fereldan Navy and Orlesian army. Though casualties are light the Orlesian Court responds with uproar, which worsens after Fereldan's response is a sharply worded and defiant letter demanding Orlesian compensation. Shortly after receiving the letter Empress Celene declares war upon Fereldan. Major battles are fought in the port of Val Royeaux and off the coast of Amaranthine. Fereldan advances seize control of much of southeastern Orlais.

The Battle of Halamshiral occurs near the end of the year and is a decisive Fereldan victory. By the end of the year half of the Dales are under nominal Fereldan control…

9.36:

Nevarra declares war on Orlais. Two armies strike across the border toward Orlesian strongpoints. Orlesian border forces, depleted by the battles against Fereldan are quickly overrun. Rapidly transferred soldiers blunt the Nevarran advance, dealing a tactical defeat to Nevarran forces along the northern border and in the Blasted Hills.

Fereldan forces deal another pair of decisive defeats to Orlesian forces, wiping out the best Chevaliers in Orlais. The battles also see the mercenary companies of Thedas devastated. Some, such as Kirkwall's Red Iron, are completely destroyed. Gaspard de Chalons is killed in a Fereldan artillery barrage near Val Foret. Total Orlesian casualties surpass one hundred thousand.

9.37:

Fereldan armies meet Nevarran forces outside Val Royeayx. After an order from King Alistair the Fereldan commander, Aedan Cousland, orders the use of lyrium rockets against the Orlesian capital. Much of the city is devastated by fires which sweep the city. Afterward Cousland and Oliver Pentaghast order the city to be stormed. After significant Orlesian losses Empress Celene surrenders the city.

Orlais surrenders to Fereldan and Nevarra, giving up significant portions of territory to both nations. Total casualties exceed 300,000 with nearly one third in the attack on Val Royeaux alone.

Maximillian Arras launches the Heartlands Revolt, which quickly spirals into an Orlesian Civil War.

9.38:

After discovering evidence of the First Enchanter of Kirkwall being a maleficarum Knight Commander Meredith is killed attempting to bring the Circle under control. The City falls soon after...

* * *

Taken from _The Dragon Age in Review_

By Eric Davies.

Published, 10.00 SA. University of Minrathrous Press. Kingdom of the Anderfels.

Introduction:

The Dragon Age is over. Thank the Maker…

Has any age since Andraste seen more change than the Dragon Age? More destruction?

The Dragon Age marked the fall of the three pre-eiminent powers of the previous Ages. Tevinter, Orlais, and Seheron and Par Vollen [2] had dominated Thedas for hundreds of years; none of them exist today.

At the beginning of the Dragon Age Fereldan and the Perivantium Empire did not exist [3], the Free Marches and the Anderfels were a set of barely organized and disunited feudal states, Antiva had no military. Only Nevarra retained the same relative position in the world, and even it had suffered through a succession war during the early half of the 9.50s…

Many had hoped that the Dragon Age would mark the end of seemingly constant conflict in Thedas, and for a time they were apparently right. After the ceasefire between Fereldan and Orlais the continent was relatively peaceful. The ongoing war between Tevinter and the Qunari continued its normal fitful state, the Anderfels nobles fought among themselves, but elsewhere there was peace…

Chapter 3: _The Decade of Ravens: 9.35-9.45 DA_

The uneasy world which emerged from the Fifth Blight was shattered by the tensions between Orlais and Fereldan in 9.35 Dragon, marking the beginning of what was to the time the most devastating series of conflicts in Thedan history. The Fereldan-Orlesian War saw over three hundred thousand people dead, almost one third in the final clash of the war alone, most of them Orlesian, the power of the Orlesian upper class destroyed, and the people of Orlais in open revolt…

Barely any time afterward revolt broke out in Tevinter as the slave Fenris seized control of Minrathrous from within, securing the three juggernauts which guarded the city, and Tevinter entered its final collapse…

The same year the revolt began in Kirkwall, and quickly spread to Circles across Thedas…

And, even after the final defeat of Orsino and his master, there was still one final great conflict on the horizon to finish out the decade…

* * *

Taken from: _Black and White: The Development of the Southern and Northern Chantries_

By Dorian Flavin

Published 10.61 SA. University of Minrathrous Press. Kingdom of the Anderfels.

Be aware that owning this work is a capital offense in Nevarra, the Free Marches, and Antiva.

…The First Unification War naturally began in the south…

…With the fall of Antiva seemingly inevitable the Orlesian Divine [4] made one last desperate move, attempting to draw in the neutral mages in southern Thedas, in particular those of Ostwick and Fereldan. Drawing in the Fereldan mages, virtually a nationalized force after the unifying force of the Fifth Blight, would mean drawing in the Kingdom of Fereldan as well.

Following the performance of both the Fereldan army and navy during the late war, it was also thought that drawing in Fereldan would put significant military forces to the Chantry's side as well…

The Divine's conference was held in the natural location for the southern Chantry, the Temple of Sacred Ashes, technically a misnomer due to the…

Unfortunately for Justinia V her plan was a near total failure, or so it seemed. King Alistair was too ill to appear at the Conference, sending his Chancellor instead, a man utterly devoid of any apparent diplomatic skill whatsoever. Even assuming the Conclave was not attacked it almost certainly would have failed. Ironically the destruction would ultimately bring about a final victory in the war…

* * *

 **This is a short section detailing the fates of certain characters who have appeared throughout the story, and some who would have appeared in Inquisition, but will not for various reason (normally because they are dead). I haven't included people who are going to either be major parts of Inquisition (as they will have time to establish themselves later) or who I've simply forgotten about. In addition, those who have died through the course of the previous two stories are included for new readers to reference. If there's anyone you think is missing let me know, and I will either add them, or plan to include them within this story.**

 **In more or less alphabetical order:**

 **Arlessa Solona Amell, Commander of the Silver:** After being given a second chance in the Mage Tower Solona has pursued her duties to the Kingdom of Fereldan with remarkable dedication, and her personal loyalty to the king is very nearly unmatched among anyone in the entire realm. Solona spends most of her time in the Vigil researching whatever happens to strike her fancy, in particular red lyrium and the Eluvians for their connections to the Blight.

 **Arl Aedan Cousland:** Younger brother of Teyrn Fergus Cousland Aedan is the general in charge of Fereldan's armies. Widely viewed as a tactical genius Aedan is actually merely talented while working with significant advantages his foes cannot guess, in particular the tactics of commanders Thedas has never heard of. Aedan Cousland is married to Arlessa Alfstanna of Dragon's Peak, the couple currently has one child.

 **Anders:** Executed by Solona Amell at Vigil's Keep. His death was the first major point of disagreement between Lord Commander Harrowmont and Chancellor Clark.

 **Avernus:** Continues to experiment in Soldier's Peak, though with significant restrictions placed upon his work. The primary focus is combating and eventually eliminating the Calling through more ethical approaches.

 **Queen Anora Mac Tir** : Forced into the Chantry following the Fifth Blight (the alternative was execution for treason, being an accessory to murder, being an accessory to the slave trade, etc.) Was stationed in Starkhaven shortly before the Mage Rebellion, and subsequently died there when the city fell.

 **Blackwall:** Was one of the few men to escape the Battle of Halamshiral, rejoined Orlesian forces moving south the next year, only to be driven into Lake Celestine by Fereldan forces where his heavy armor led to drowning alongside thousands of his comrades.

 **Ser Cauthrien:** Joined the Grey Wardens following the Fifth Blight, only to be exiled following the defeat of the Architect. Currently commanding a Warden garrison along the northern border of the Anderfels.

 **Grand Duke Gaspared de Chalons:** Killed by Fereldan artillery fire during the Battle of Foret.

 **Knight Captain Cullen:** Killed in Kirkwall during the revolt.

 **Dagna:** left Orzammar during the chaos preceeding Bhelen's coronation. Eventually made her way to the Circle to study. Currently Dagna is one of the chief engineers in the Fereldan Army, and is working in Highever.

 **Sophia Dryden:** Killed by Solona Amell during the purge of Vigil's Keep.

 **Fenris:** Recaptured by Denarius in Kirkwall. His sister would later have a change of heart and free her brother, who led a revolt against the Magisters. Currently the theoretical leader of the slaves in charge of Minrathrous and the surrounding environs. In reality Fenris barely maintains order in the city as reprisals and terror grip the surrounding area.

 **Bann Teagan Guerrin:** Former ambassador to Orlais, currently holding that position to Nevarra. He married Katelyn in 9.34, and they have two children. His brother-in-law is currently a lieutenant in the Fereldan Army stationed in Mont-de-glace.

 **Arl Conner Guerrin:** Was enrolled in the Circle following his exposure as a mage. Given the boy's status he was ruled not guilty of any wrongdoing by tribunal held by Knight Commander Gregoir and First Enchanter Irving. Conner passed his Harrowing in 9.38, and was transferred to the Redcliffe Circle (established earlier that year) as a senior Enchanter, but resigned to take up the role of Arl following his father's death.

 **Arl Eamon Guerrin:** Took responsibility for his wife's actions in keeping Conner's magic secret. At his trial Eamon was sentenced to an eighty sovereign fine and had to build a new Chantry in Redcliffe. This building is currently under construction and is the largest in Fereldan apart from the Temple of Sacred Ashes itself. Passed away in 9.37 from heart problems.

 **Arlessa Isolde Guerrin:** Excused for her actions during the Fifth Blight under the recommendation of King Alistair and plea by her husband. She bore Eamon a second son in 9.34 Dragon, a boy who is currently being trained in the Calenhad Circle (there is not currently enough manpower within the Circle system to train children outside of Calenhad), and who is expected to pass his final exams in a few years with flying colors, allowing a transfer to the Redcliffe Circle. Isolde survived her husband and currently spends much of her time as an advocate for expanding mage rights farther with the Divine. The remainder is spent with her children.

 **Justice:** Destroyed by the Baroness.

 **Gamlen Hawke:** Killed by Qunari poison gas.

 **Garrett Hawke:** Former Champion of Kirkwall, disappeared somewhere in the north after the revolt.

 **Lady Leandra Hawke:** Resides in Denerim as the personal guest of King Alistair. She serves as a major spokeswoman for Free Marches intervention.

 **Lord Pyral Harrowmont** : Banished from Fereldan following the defeat of the Architect, currently working with the Gray Wardens of Orlais.

 **Idunna:** After being spared in Kirkwall, Idunna successfully undertook the Joining. She was kept in Amaranthine for the first years of Joining, but has since been dispatched on a number of missions. Currently holds a rank equivalent to Captain of the Silver Guardians. While viewed with some suspicion at first Idunna has served faithfully for nearly eight years.

 **Isabella:** Killed by Idunna to secure the Tome of Koslun for Fereldan.

 **Teyrnessa Lanaya:** Accepted a position as Teyrn of the Dales following the Fereldan/Orlesian War, a move she now recognizes may have been an error since it clearly established which side her clan, and those who followed them will take in future conflicts. Many of the Dalish are now effectively permanently tied to the Fereldan crown. In addition, her efforts to reestablish the Dalish religion have largely been a failure despite state Toleration. To her unending frustration most of the elves who relocated or already lived in the Dales are dedicated Andrastians, who while wanting to live under an elf ruler are still more comfortable in Chantry's than forests; and who view her as Teyrn first and Keeper second, if at all.

 **Lily:** Imprisoned at the beginning of the Fifth Blight following Alim Surana turning in both Lily and Jowan. Later pardoned by King Alistair at the recommendation of both Chancellor Clark and Enchanter Surana. Currently serves as a Cleric in Highever.

 **Knight Commander Meredith:** Killed by Orsino during the Kirkwall Revolt.

 **Merrill:** Stood with the Kirkwall Guard to give Hawke enough time to escape (well dragged out while unconscious). Presumed dead.

 **Corporal Rosselin:** Originally a young soldier in the service of Gaspard de Chalons Rosselin was crushed when de Chalons fell at Foret, and constantly believed that if his lord had been in command from the beginning then the corporal's family, which had fled to Val Royeaux would not have died in the inferno which swept over the city. After being ordered to crush a rebellion in the Heartlands of Orlais Rosselin defected, and has since come to serve as the commander of Maximillian Arras's entire military force.

 **Sera:** Sera was unfortunate enough for her formative years to take place in a country devastated by war, and has grown significantly more hardened than would otherwise have occurred. The relatively small scale opposition to nobility has transformed into full-blown revolutionary zeal. As one of Arras's earliest followers Sera acts as effective spymaster for the Orlesian rebellion.

 **Shianni:** Promoted to Arl of the Denerim Alienage following the Fifth Blight (her cousin turned the job down to go back to Redcliffe). Shianni is a constant irritant amongst the nobles of Fereldan, and many think she has the king's ear on too many issues.

 **Sten:** Attempted to seize control of the heroes of Fereldan. Attacked by Clark and Leliana after defeating Alistair in a duel and presumed dead. No body was ever recovered.

 **Alim Surana:** An arcane warrior without peer Alim is also the First Enchanter of the Lake Calenhad Circle, and therefore the Grand Enchanter of Fereldan, following Enchanter Irving's retirement. Surana is a significant proponent of Mage rights, and serves on a committee with Knight Commander Gregoir, who is planning on stepping down, and a Grand Cleric of the Chantry which oversees the function of the Fereldan Circle system. As Grand Enchanter he also occupies a seat in the Landsmeet.

 **Darrian Tabris:** After the Fifth Blight Darrian was offered rule over the Arling of the Denerim alienage, but turned the post down to return to Redcliffe and his wife. They live quiet lives as relatively well-off merchants (an increasingly powerful social class in Fereldan), dealing primarily in arms made in Redcliffe's foundries (the town has become a major center of both cannon and powder production). The couple are well respected by the community, many of whom remember Darrian's efforts during the Blight, and have three children. The influence of the Tabris family was highly influential in passing multiple elven rights laws. Redcliffe is viewed as one of the friendliest cities for elves outside of the Dales.

 **King Alistair I Therein:** Current king of Fereldan. Not currently married, but pressure is rapidly mounting for him to take a wife. The king has currently withdrawn from the public eye, bringing rumors of severe illness. He has put in only four appearances in Denerim since 9.39, even missing special Chantry services to commemorate the end of the Fifth Blight and Recovery of the Urn.

 **Aveline Vallen:** Made a last stand against the mages during the Kirkwall Revolt. Presumed dead.

 **Vivienne:** Died in the destruction of the White Spire during the Fereldan/Nevarran assault on Val Royeaux.

* * *

 **And finally, a little segment showing a bit of where the world is going:**

Taken from: _The Ages of Thedas_

By Michael Bates

Published 11.21 SA. University of Denerim Press. Denerim, Imperial Federation of Fereldan.

Sky Age:

10.00-10.99

Coined by Divine Julia II in the year 9.99 after being present at the first public demonstration of heavier than air flight. The Divine's announcement cut short speculation that the Age would be referred to as either the Popular Age, or the Fire Age which had been the previous candidates…

The Fire Age, one possibility for the Sky Age's name would of course return as the name of the following age, named for a key moment in the Divine War…

* * *

Taken from: _Black and White: The Development of the Southern and Northern Chantries_

By Dorian Flavin

Published 10.61 SA. University of Minrathrous Press. Kingdom of the Anderfels.

…Conflict has existed between the Black Divine and the White Divine almost from the moment the Chantry came into being. What was then the Tevinter Imperium refused to recognize the Orlesian upstarts in the south setting up a sovereign religious body, in particular one which blame on the Tevinter magisters as the cause of the Maker's Wrath…Within a few years of forming the two Divine's excommunicated one another…

Following the collapse of Tevinter it seemed the Imperial Chantry was doomed to die, the Black Divine died upon the blade of Fenris the Scourge , and each breakaway state set up a new Black Divine to take his place…[5]

The new southern Divine not only had her own nation, but she was known to be a close friend to multiple Fereldan high officials, including the king, queen, and three teyrns. To the Ander lords it seemed to be switching out one puppet for a puppet controlled by slightly more distant masters. This presented a unique opportunity however, and the most powerful lords of the Anderfels took the chance to break with Val Royeaux completely. This left the simple question of where to turn for the people's spiritual guidance. Fortunately the ongoing rise of Perivantium offered a once in a lifetime opportunity…

 **[1]: The existence of the Mother and the Architect is not deemed important enough by Mr. Hart to include. Even amongst the most detail oriented historians of Fereldan their defeat is at most a historical footnote.**

 **[2]: Most historians do not consider the Qunari to have had two separate nations, instead they are considered essentially extended parts of the same government.**

 **[3]: Davies is exaggerating here. Fereldan had existed for a short time, but his general point stands.**

 **[4]: In the future the southern (or white) Divine is largely viewed as a puppet of the various southern kingdoms, at the moment Orlais. This is countered by the Black Divine, who of course was a puppet of the Tevinters, though for obvious reasons the current Black Divine no longer lives in Minrathrous.**

 **[5]: More on this following the downfall of Corypheus, and the Arran Wars.**

 **To guest 12: You are quite right that the destruction of the Urn of Sacred Ashes WOULD be a major blow to Fereldan international prestige…**

 **And no, William will not be particularly fond of the divine intervention explanation, not because he doesn't believe its impossible (his position quite clearly indicates that SOMETHING exists at the very least. While he will explain his views a bit more thoroughly later on, primarily in piercing the Herald's ego, they can be summed up like so: 1. Bioware wouldn't put that into a game, and 2. He doesn't believe in the Maker. That second bit is important, while Leliana might view the Christian God and the Andrastian Maker as the same being (more on this later too), William does not. The first is a change from his previous attitude, largely brought about by events in Kirkwall, and he is essentially theorizing that the situation they find themselves in is at least similar to what would have happened in a third game, a time equivalent to a Seldon Crisis from the Foundation, or a Prophecy Event from the Belgariad. Since unlike previous installments he has no idea what is coming there really is no plan, even in the short term.**


	2. Chapter 1

" _We must all remember the example of the Conclave. Even when events seem darkest the light will always come. The enemies of the Maker will fall before his followers…"_

 _-Divine Victoria I, 9.58. Following the surrender of Ostwick to the Qunari. The words would be reused by many future leaders of the Southern (or White) Chantry as well over the years, most famously said by Divine Celestine III as she fled across the Amaranthine Ocean with the Fereldan Emperor following the Fall of Denerim during the Divine War._

* * *

Chapter I

The Conclave had been going for nearly a week by now, and nothing had gotten done. Admittedly in part it was my fault of course, Alistair had given no orders before I left Denerim, and none had arrived since my arrival. Abstaining from every matter of importance was the only course available.

The Ostwick leader, Fiona-something asked our stance on issues of the lyrium trade following the war. As always I looked up and answered, "Fereldan has no position at this time." It was largely true. Policy had been frozen for the last six months, with Alistair incapacitated much of the time, and spending his time in the Vigil most of the rest for treatment.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I quickly glanced up to see the most amazing woman in the world gesturing me to follow her. I nodded, and quickly ducked out of the conference.

As soon as we were outside Bethany turned to me and whispered, "We have a problem."

I nodded, "Of course we do…"

She cut me off and said, "I'm serious dear. Come on."

She started down the temple, and I ran to catch up after a moment. She led me through the twists of the temple, until finally we arrived in one of the smaller rooms overlooking the conference, which was taking place in the main area of the temple which normally would have been where any of the Andrastian faithful who visited would be for services, not that there had been very many with the war raging in the north. These rooms were supposed to be for more private, and quiet, contemplation. That was the theory they told me anyway.

The main sight in the room however were a trio of bodies; an elf, a Qunari, and a dwarf. All of them were very obviously dead, with bodies twisted at odd angles. Bethany stepped up next to me and whispered, "Notice anything?"

I started to shake my head, then suddenly froze as I did notice something odd. There was no blood. At all. I whispered the answer back to her and she nodded, "Blood magic, definitely. Which means…"

I finished, "We have an assassin loose. Let the guards know. I'll order a search of the Temple.

Bethany frowned, "Do you think we should evacuate?"

I thought about it before finally saying, "No. They should be safer in this complex than anywhere outside. There are dozens of guards, and regardless of their differences the neutral mages aren't going to let the Divine die without fighting back."

Bethany nodded again, "Very well. We should probably get the other two up here."

I scowled. She was naturally talking about the Hands of the Divine, who were never, under any circumstances, allowed into this building. I was friends with Leliana, but trusting her was a bit beyond my risk tolerance when the Chantry was involved. And Pentaghast…well interacting to Pentaghast was never a pleasant experience. However I sighed in agreement and said, "Meet me at the entrance, we'll go down to Haven together."

It took a few minutes to set the various guards to work, the Marchers began first, while what few mages were actively on the Chantry's side got to work examining the bodies more closely. The elf was identified as the apprentice to a Keeper in one of the Clans which had sided with the Chantry when Antiva was invaded, the Qunari was from one of the many mercenary bands hired to help fight the war, but no one was entirely certain who the dwarf was.

Security was left in the hands of Alexander Trevelyan, some noble from the Free Marches, and his cousin, who I couldn't remember the name of. We had few Fereldans involved. Most of the army was still deployed in former Orlesian territory, and most of the rest were either running the border post between the kingdom and Orzammar, or deployed on the northern coast in case Orsino tried anything. Around Haven we had only a single regiment of militia, a group of Chasind light infantry, and two squads of werewolves.

Finally I managed to get away and found my wife waiting for me. She smiled, then offered a hand as we started down into the little town of Haven.

* * *

Haven had changed since the recovery of the Urn. The people stared at us in hatred as we passed, but the presence of Fisher and the werewolves kept them from acting openly. The dragon cult had taken years to reach even this limited level of cooperation.

As expected Leliana saw us long before we spotted her, and she met us on the road, though I couldn't help but notice she was giving me a strange look. She fell in beside us, and after a moment whispered, "Okay, I wasn't paying close attention last time, but wasn't the mountain, well, that one?"

She pointed at a peak on the opposite side of the village, and I followed her gaze for a moment, then answered, "Of course not. You don't think we'd build a temple on the wrong mountain by accident do you?"

She frowned, then said, "Not by accident…no."

Before she could go on the other Hand met us. Cassandra Pentaghast, the most irritating person I had the misfortune of interacting with on a semi-regular basis now. She wore a seemingly perpetual frown, and seemed to think that everything I did was a move against her, and what she was fighting for. Admittedly that is partly true, but still…

We quickly explained what we had found, and Leliana started asking questions, but we couldn't give much information. Finally the two of them ordered what followers they had to get back to the Temple, when there was a terrible shriek, followed by a roar.

Bethany reacted almost instantly, throwing up one hand and a shield formed around us, and just in time as a wave of energy swept over us. It had enough force to topple the nearby trees, and blasted all the built-up snow and ice of winter in the Frostbacks aside, leaving the grown almost clear. The frozen river next to the road shattered, and then the shield failed. The remaining energy threw us backwards, Bethany and I landed in one of the new snow piles that had formed while Leliana managed to catch herself on an extended tree branch and was quickly upright and staring upwards.

I pulled myself up and offered a hand to Bethany, her robes making it more difficult for her to stand again. She took it and then stopped as she followed Leliana's gaze upward. I frowned, then looked as well, and was frozen in shock.

The sky was gone. The area directly over the Temple was gone. Not the top of the building, though given the force of the blast that probably was gone, but the sky. The clouds which had covered the sky all day were simply gone. In its place was a sickly green fog. After a moment I said, "Is that…the Fade?"

Bethany nodded in horror, "It's a tear in the Veil. The biggest I've ever seen…ever heard of…"

I nodded, "It has to be if I can see it." There was a sudden pulse of energy, and we were nearly knocked backwards again, and the tear looked ever so slightly bigger now.

Behind us Cassandra was shouting something, but I could barely hear her, until Leliana called back, "We need to get up there. Find out what's going on."

* * *

Maxwell Trevelyan had found he hated Fereldan. It was far too cold, the people were insubbordinat toward their noble betters, even the nobles were barely presentable in polite society. There were exceptions of course, he practically followed the Teyrn of Gwarren around when possible. Maxwell had been a boy when the Blight swept across Fereldan, and he'd grown up being told stories about the Battle of Denerim. To actually meet one of the Heroes of Fereldan had seemed like a dream come true, then he'd realized one of the sister's accompanying the Divine was one as well, and had nearly fainted from glee.

Still, the country irritated him. To make it worse, guarding the conference was simply so boring. He'd have much rather been in the north, fighting in Antiva alongside both his older brothers. That comfort was gone now though as his cousin ordered Maxwell's soldiers to secure the area surrounding the Conference room, a task accomplished easily enough. As he made checked the map to ensure every entrance to the room was guarded Maxwell doubled back to check on the eight guards he'd left at the main entrance.

They were dead. Not just dead, they had almost literally been ripped apart. Body parts had been scattered everywhere, but something didn't sit right as he looked down at them, then realized, there was no blood. For the son who had expected all his life to go into the Templar Order the answer was obvious. Blood magic, a lot of blood magic. Without thinking he grabbed a nearby bell and began ringing it.

The signal quickly spread and every soldier in the building converged on the main doorway. Alexander was among them, and the older man quickly took charge, preparing what few people with Templar training, Maxwell among them, to hang back for a moment. As the soldiers organized themselves Alexander took a moment to peak inside, and when he turned back he had turned white. After a moment he said, "The Divine is still alive."

He turned to Maxwell's group and said, "We need to get her out of here. Understand? Nothing else matters."

They nodded, and a moment later Alexander smashed the door in, and the soldiers charged. They took the oddly dressed soldiers by surprise, killing several before the rest could even respond. As the fighting began in earnest Maxwell looked ahead and saw the Divine hanging in the center of the room, her arms stretched above her head, and in front of her stood the most horrifying creature he had ever seen. It seemed to have once been human, but had been twisted by something, some power. It barely paid the group any mind as they fought their way closer, focusing instead on an orb which hung between it and Justinia.

With a lunge Alexander broke through the rank of enemy soldiers, and charged the monster, his enchanted sword ahead of him. The monster finally reacted, swinging an arm toward the young man as he approached, then Alexander almost exploded, his body torn apart by the magic of this…thing. The creature was distracted for a moment, and in that moment Justinia kicked, and her foot connection with the orb, thowing it across the room, where Maxwell, without thinking, caught it. As he did so there was a horrible, searing pain in his hand as the orb burned bright green, then there was an explosion. He tried to let go, but the orb had almost fastened itself to his hand, and then a beam shot from the device, and there was a tearing sound, and he looked up to see a green sky, the ceiling ripped away by the blast.

There was another flash, blinding him for a moment, then another explosion, and the green extended down, tearing through more of the Temple, destroying the conference table, and sucking the still living soldiers inside. Even as they were sucked away however the monster turned with hatred in its eyes toward Maxwell and charged at him. Without thinking he raised the orb as it flashed again, and this time the beam lanced out, striking the monster and tearing it apart.

Maxwell sighed in relief as the creature died, though he could swear he saw something, maybe smoke escape before the creature finally died. He barely had time to celebrate however, as the orb continued to pulse, then stopped, and fell from his hand. With a start Maxwell realized the orb was all that was keeping him from being sucked in as well, and he desperately tried to grab a nearby pillar, but lost his grip and flew into the Fade, and as he entered the portal he saw another monster, a demon looming over those who had been drawn inside. Something about the creature struck him, and all his memories were gone, replaced only by the sheer horror that thing invoked.

Even as he landed creatures began swarming around him, spiders, enormous spiders. They swept down, and in terror Maxwell turned to flee, and as he did so a voice behind him urged, "Run." He glanced back, and could barely make out a female figure between himself and the spiders. She said again, "Run."

Without thinking he did as ordered. He ran, and as he did so he threw his left hand out, something on his hand flashed, and he was suddenly running out of the Temple's entrance. He barely could see a black haired young woman catch him before he passed out, babbling something about the woman who had saved him.

* * *

"Who is he?" Bethany asked as she passed the boy off to the soldiers.

I glanced at him and said, "One of the Trevelyans I think. His cousin was leading the guards in the Temple."

Leliana however asked, "What did he mean, a woman saved him from the Fade?"

I shrugged, "Bethany caught him, maybe that's it."

Leliana answered, "Maybe." She didn't sound convinced though. "Regardless, we'll need to wake him up as soon as possible. We need to find out what went on in there."

I nodded, "I'll get a mage healer sent over to deal with his injuries. What was that on his hand?"

Bethany frowned, "The glowing scar? No idea. It looked a bit like Fenris's tattoos when he would use his powers…but brighter, more direct somehow." She paused, then said, "And it was the same color as the beam that shot out of the Temple a few minutes after the Veil was torn open."

"As it was torn open actually," said a fourth voice. It was one which, unfortunately, I recognized. Solas. Cassandra's apostate assistant, and easily as irritating as she was. Still for actual information regarding the Fade, rather than the opinions he so often resorted to, there was no one better. He continued, "You might now have been watching, but when the Veil was torn open a beam shot from the Temple, and another followed."

I started to respond, then looked down and said, "Oh for the love of God."

"What?" Bethany and Leliana asked at the same time, while Solas continued to stare upward into the rift.

I gestured down the hill where Cassandra's guards were taking charge of the boy. Then I said, "She seems to think he was behind it. The kid's an idiot, not an all-powerful breach-ripping supermage. Come on, let's get him before she can put him in a cell or something."

* * *

 **To guest12: Leliana will be elected Divine, though that's not to say she will be elected immediately…**

 **The fight you mention between Solona and the other mage will occur near the end of this story. You are right about Occam's Razor, though I left out a bit of detail before. The SI also has the benefit of viewing all magic as…well basically equally impossible, meaning he isn't biased against the explanation on the grounds of "nothing we know of can do that," since to him its ALL impossible (or at the very least should be if the universe was behaving itself.) And while it didn't happen this time around you are right in thinking that physically being inside the Fade will be a very different experience…**

 **Feel free to keep the theorization going. I'm perfectly fine with people trying to figure out where the story's going (wouldn't include the historical sections and their references otherwise), it's interesting to see any theories that pop up (and of course, if the theory is interesting I may borrow it, or some elements for the future.)**

 **Finally, a similar coat might, as part of the formal wear later, though I'm not sure yet. The revolver will not. It's not something which can be easily fixed at the moment.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Missed my self-set deadline by fifteen minutes. Oh well.**

 **As always, any feedback is appreciated. Questions are also appreciated. I have started to set up an internet connection, but unfortunately there have been some technical issues with the apartment, so hopfully soon I will be updating more quickly again.**

* * *

Taken from _The Complete Historical Dictionary (Second Edition)_

Published 11.28 FA.

University of Gwarren. Imperial Federation of Fereldan.

 _Imperial Wars: Names given to a series of four wars fought across the end of the Dragon Age until the latter half of the Sky Age. The cause of each war is generally viewed as being extraneous, much like the eventual agreement for peace. Rather modern historians view the entire process as one extended war for control over Central Thedas, viewed as the primary goal of each nation at the time. Fittingly almost all the fighting in Thedas itself took place in Nevarra, or the former Orlesian and Tevinter Imperiums, each nations viewed as the major power of Thedas in their time. Ironically the name of the overall period is taken not from the goals, but rather from the territorial adjustments which at the time were mere afterthoughts…_

 _While Nevarra, the Orlesian states, the Free Marches, Perivantium, Antiva, and the Anderfels battled across central Thedas the primary southern nation found itself almost unable to contribute. Fereldan's power lay in total control over the Waking Sea and Amaranthine Ocean via its supreme navy, and later air force. Land forces were an afterthought, with the role of heavy artillery almost solely restricted for heavy naval guns or bombers…As with many errors in Fereldan military thinking this would come back to haunt them during the Divine War…_

 _Fereldan's position was interesting. While the most powerful individual southern nation this was more because of economics and geography than any skill on their part. Fereldan was very nearly untouchable on land, requiring years of campaigning just to reach the far western border as any potential opponent had to fight through all of what had been Orlais, and possibly Nevarra. Consequently the Fereldan military had plenty of time to prepare for an attack if necessary, and through the Fourth Imperial War it never was…_

 _Consequently Fereldan was incapable of deploying forces more than a few days inland. Yet, its power was still felt as the Fereldan Navy blockaded northern ports, and conquered colonies and international vassals at will throughout each conflict. While many were returned at war's end for some small gesture in Thedas others, in particular rich or underpopulated regions, were annexed directly to the Fereldan colonies, later the Three Kingdoms… When Fereldan's allies won major victories on land Fereldans reaping of colonies at war's end was enormous…_

 _If a map of the beginning of the Sky Age was overlain on a map of Thedas as the ink dried on the final treaty of the Imperial Wars virtually no change would be found on the continent. A few borders had edged out slightly, a few towns had changed sides, but the balance of power had barely changed. Only internationally had the balance of power shifted. Throughout the early Sky Age Fereldan raced Perivantium and the Anderfels, as well as to a lesser extent the Free Marches and Antiva, for the best pieces of land across the Amaranthine Ocean. The major powers were almost tied by the beginning of the Second Imperial War, only for each subsequent conflict to see more and more growth of Fereldan power, especially as the open door policy of the colonies drew fortune seekers, the dispossessed, the poor, criminals, and others to the hope for land, riches, fame, or just a new start on life. By the end of the Fourth, and last, Imperial War Fereldan controlled nearly one quarter of the planet, had control of one fifth the population, and nearly thirty percent of the industrial power, a number which would increase throughout the remainder of the Sky Age until hitting nearly 60% [1] as the Divine War drew to a close, almost two-thirds of which was concentrated in the Three Kingdoms._

Chapter 2

The past two days had been hectic. Defenses near the mountain's base, wooden barricades mounted with cannon and manned by musketeers from the Haven garrison stood watch over the hole in the Fade, which was continuing to grow. Other, smaller, tears had started forming earlier this morning, but with some help from the Chantry guards we had managed to contain the demons.

Riders had been sent to Calenhad, Redcliffe, Denerim, Highever, and Amaranthine. Anything to rally some kind of magical support to figure out a way to close the rifts. Solas theorized the odd mark on Trevelyan's left hand might be able to stop the demons coming through, but he hadn't regained consciousness.

All in all, a fairly below average couple of days I thought sourly as Cassandra stormed into the Haven Chantry, probably to remind me things could always be worse. Immediately she demanded, "Well, is he awake yet."

Leliana answered before I could, "I'm afraid not. What's happening?"

"It's getting bigger." Cassandra snapped, "And the pulses are coming more frequently. If we don't do something to close it we might not be able to get up there. We need to wake him up."

"We can't do that," Bethany interjected. "We aren't sure what happened up there. If he doesn't come out of this…"

She was interrupted as a soldier in Fereldan red and gold entered the room and quickly saluted before saying, "Excuse me ser. The prisoner is awake, and demanding to talk to someone in charge."

I nodded, "Alert the garrison commander to be ready." I turned to Bethany and said, "Well dear, I guess it's time to start the show."

She smiled and answered, "Naturally. We'll be ready when you catch up."

She left, followed by the Templar escort. In theory the Teyrnessa of Gwarren didn't require Chantry oversight while with an agent of the crown, me specifically, but with the Rifts open we weren't taking chances.

Leliana motioned after her and said, "Let's go see the kid, there's a lot to do."

* * *

Maxwell Trevelyan had almost gotten through his latest demands and threats when the door opened behind the elven guard, who looked more irritated than afraid. Clark said, "Thanks Cammen. We'll take it from here."

The elf nodded and answered, "Of course sir. If that's all, I need to get back to Fisher."

Clark nodded, "Very well. Let him know we'll be assaulting the Temple shortly."

As the elf left Leliana, he remembered her from the Conference when his cousin had pointed her out, looked at Maxwell and asked, "Do you remember anything?"

He nodded, "There was something in the Conference Room, we were going in to investigate…" He trailed off, "I don't remember anything else."

The woman he didn't know, a black haired woman he thought might be Nevarran, said, "Is that it? What about the Divine? Is she alive?"

Maxwell tried to remember, but finally he shook his head, "I don't know. Everything after we went in is a blur." He straightened and continued, "Now, I demand to be let out of here. I am a member of House Trevelyan and I will..."

He was cut off as Clark said, "And I'm the Duke of No-one-cares." The Fereldan turned to Leliana and said, "We're going to have to assume everyone inside is dead. Including both Enchanter Fiona and the Divine."

Leliana's face contorted for a second, but she rapidly regained control of herself and said, "We had feared that anyway…but, with Fiona dead at a meeting we called…" She trailed off, and Clark's expression said they were both sharing the same thought, though Maxwell wasn't sure he followed their line of reasoning.

The Marcher pulled himself back together and started to make himself heard again, but Clark was already saying, "Cassandra, we need to get to the front and talk to Roderick. He needs to get to Val Royeaux as soon as possible. There has to be an election immediately. Can you handle this one?" He nodded in the general direction of Maxwell.

Cassandra scowled, but nodded as well. "I will. He doesn't get a weapon though."

Clark rolled his eyes, clearly thinking this was paranoia, but didn't press the issue. "Just don't bind his hands at least."

Leliana stepped in before there could be an argument, saying, "You know where to meet us right?"

Cassandra sighed, "Meet with Solas to test his theory, then the camp below the Thousand Stairs, I know."

Leliana and Clark turned to leave and Maxwell vaguely heard Leliana ask under her breath, "Thousand Stairs, really?"

The door closed before he could hear Clark's answer.

* * *

"It sounds more mystical than the 'Supposed to be Thousand Stairs, only we ran out of room and there are only 941.'" I answered, a bit irritated. I had been the one to name them after all. It sounded like something a fantasy story would have anyway.

Leliana smirked, but didn't comment. Instead she looked up at the Rift and asked, "Do you think he can close it?"

I shrugged, "Who knows? It has to be better than throw enough magic at it to level the mountain anyway." To be perfectly honest I didn't see how he could close something that big, but this seemed like a likely plot point in a game, and the mark on Trevelyan's hand looked suspiciously like a main character power to me. If only whatever stupid cosmic force had been involved had let me play Dragon Age III first. We were silent as we kept going upward and finally I said, "So, will the neutral mages take a side after this?"

Leliana sighed. "Probably. We're going to take the blame regardless of the cause. The Chantry invited them on good faith, and now Fiona's probably dead. Somehow I doubt our explanations are going to be worth much." She stopped for a moment, then finally finished, "You know Fereldan has to take a side at some point."

I shrugged, "Maybe…" I was cut off as there was a ripple of power from the Rift, and a demon emerged in front of us. With a rather tired gesture I drew my sword and moved forward with Leliana.

* * *

As the two others left Cassandra turned back toward Maxwell and said, "Those two might not think you're responsible, but I'm not convinced. So you are going ahead of me. Do what I say or I will drag you. Understand?"

Maxwell started to protest, but at her glare thought better of it. Instead he took a breath and exited. He heard the woman draw her sword, then follow. As they stepped out Maxwell finally commented, "This seems a bit of a garbage heap for a holy site."

Behind him Cassandra answered, "The entire area was overrun with a dragon cult until a few years ago. When the Fereldans started work on the temple proper they sent the Werewolves in to put it down. The people of Haven seem to view the Rift as a divine punishment for their actions."

Maxwell was silent as he looked at the people on the streets, who stared at him in hatred. Finally he commented, "What does it matter what they think? They are heretics at best."

There was a small note of approval in Cassandra's voice as she said, "Apparently the Fereldans care. The King only ordered soldiers in when the attacks on their own forces started. Across the bridge here," she suddenly ordered.

Maxwell obeyed, though he wondered why they weren't going along the direct route to the Temple. As the pair reached the center of the bridge there was a sudden burst of energy that threw Maxwell to the ground, while Cassandra braced herself. As Maxwell stood up shakily he asked, "What was that?"

Cassandra looked up at the Rift and answered, "One of the pulses. Every time we get hit by one the Rift expands. You'll get used to…"

She was cut off as there was another pulse and the bridge began to crack. "Move." Cassandra shouted. Without waiting to see if Maxwell would obey she sprinted forward.

After a moment Maxwell followed, and with a leap he slid onto the road after the bridge. There was a groan, then roar behind the pair as the bridge collapsed. Cassandra pulled herself up and looked back, then shook her head and said, "We have to keep going. If you can seal the Rift we're going to have to try."

Maxwell nodded, then followed her gesture up the hill. He started up, gradually becoming aware of the little signs which would lead to a pulse, signs he hadn't noticed before. His hair stood on end, his armor give little jolts barely noticeable when they ran together, unless someone was specifically trying to notice them. Finally he heard Cassandra push herself up against a stone wall along the path, and a moment later the pulse came. Maxwell caught himself before the blow could knock him over.

The pattern continued, with Maxwell rapidly growing used to the pulses. Then as they crested the hill the sound of fighting came from ahead. With a curse Cassandra ordered, "Get behind me."

Maxwell obeyed and the woman charged forward, vanishing over the hill before Maxwell could catch up. He finally crested the hill and saw a battle between a group of people and a force of demons. Even from his vantage point however Maxwell could see it was a pointless fight. For every demon the humans killed another two would emerge from the Rift.

Maxwell took a deep breath and ran into the fray.

He reached the battle a minute later, and grabbed a short sword from where a soldier in Orlesian heraldry, probably a Templar, had dropped it, then drove the weapon into the back a demon attacking a black haired woman Maxwell vaguely recognized as one of the Fereldans. The monster whirled, but even as it did so the woman threw out a hand, and a glowing green blade shot forward, stabbing the monster through the middle, then she cut upward, tearing it in half.

Without stopping she pointed to an elven mage who was forcing two demons back through the rift and said, "Get to Solas. He'll tell you what to do."

Maxwell nodded, and started forward, before being blocked by a demon, which was almost immediately hit by three crossbow bolts from a dwarf above them. Without pausing Maxwell continued, avoiding a fight with another demon which was in the process of charging Cassandra, and finally reaching the elven mage as he finished forcing another demon back into the Rift. He started to say something, but the elf grabbed Maxwell's hand, raised it toward the Rift, there was a horrible searing pain, and then nothing. The demon were gone and the Rift had sealed.

Solas breathed a sigh of relief as he sat on a nearby ledge before saying, "It worked."

Behind Maxwell the black haired woman said, "You were right then. William seemed to think you would be for some reason." She smiled at Maxwell and said, "My name is Bethany by the way. Bethany Clark, Teyrnessa of Gwarren and Senior Enchanter of the Gwarren Circle."

"And I'm Varric Tethras." Said the dwarf as he jumped down from another ledge, "Former merchant of the Free Marches, now impoverished exile," he finished on a bitter note.

The elf looked up with a smile and said, "And I'm Solas. No special titles thanks."

Bethany almost fell onto the ledge beside him and said, "He's the one who saved your life. The mark apparently almost killed you."

Before Maxwell could answer Cassandra joined them and said, "We are wasting time. Sister Nightingale is…"

"We all know what her real name is," Bethany interrupted irritably, "Can't you just use it?"

Cassandra scowled at her, but said, "Leliana is almost certainly at the forward camp by now. We need to meet her there."

Bethany sighed, but nodded. "She's right. They will be waiting for us."

* * *

The road up the mountain had no more of the miniature Rifts, but as the group moved up the mountain Maxwell could see others below them, though thankfully the demons didn't seem to be ranging too far from their sources.

After a few minutes they heard more fighting from ahead and Cassandra sped the group up. The battle was larger than the previous battle, a rank of soldiers in chainmail with red sashes, stood on a platform with pikes pointed into the ranks of demons while mages in red and gold robes behind them threw spells. Any breaches in the line were rapidly fixed by a force of men in armor wielding two handed swords with shimmering shields around them. Solas quickly told Maxwell, "You need to close the rift. Until we do they stand no cha…"

He was cut off as a pair of demons split off from the main group and charged at the new targets. Solas threw a forcefield around one of them, then caught another one in a field of Fade energy and began forcing it back into the Rift. Bethany and Cassandra darted ahead, a field of blue surrounding the Teyrnessa as she advanced. Her green sword flashed ahead of her, cutting down a rage demon as she reached the demons.

Maxwell joined the advance a moment later, his short sword looking rather pathetic against the eldritch things in front of him. A flaming rage demon moved toward him, only for it to be hit repeatedly by crossbow bolts from Varric. The dwarf shouted, "Just get to the Rift. We'll cover you."

Maxwell darted forward, dodging around another demon, one he didn't recognize from the Chantry education, as it was cut apart by Bethany's magical sword. He threw up one hand as he approached the Rift, and…nothing happened. He ducked a demon as it flew over his head, only to run into Cassandra's enchanted sword.

He tried to think back toward what Solas had done, but the elf had just raised his hand. Finally Maxwell raised one hand, and rather than trying to force the Rift close he just stood there, doing nothing. After a moment there was a pulse from the Rift, and the pain ran through him again, and Rift swelled for a moment, then was simply gone, along with the demons.

The soldiers raised their pikes, and stood still as the gates behind them slowly swung open and a pair of figures emerged from inside. Clark and Leliana saw the Rift gone, then Maxwell's group. Bethany and Clark met halfway to the gate, and were quickly passed by the rest as Leliana motioned Cassandra and Maxwell to follow her.

The sister started talking about the situation they were facing, and Maxwell stopped paying attention as he looked around the small fortress that had gone up around the gatehouse leading to the stairs. There were Fereldan troops manning the upper towers, each armed with the strange tubes Maxwell had seen at the beginning of the Conference. A small number of Chantry guards were stationed at the gates, always, Maxwell noted a bit curiously, outnumbered by Fereldans.

After a moment he saw Leliana waving him over to join her, Cassandra, and the Clarks.

* * *

"What are our options," Cassandra asked as Trevelyan arrived.

I glanced over at Fisher who was standing in the shadows, nearly invisible in his uniform unless you already knew he was there. The werewolf motioned at the map and, "The stairs are a nonstarter. They are almost completely overrun with demons at this point. After stair 500 we simply can't keep going. Lieutenant Hardin estimates there are at least two hundred demons between there and the top."

I nodded, "Which means, we have to go the other way…"

That got some looks and finally Leliana asked, "The other way?"

I shrugged, "When we were building the Temple there was some concern about it defensibility."

"You mean you couldn't?" Cassandra asked.

Fisher snorted. "Give me five hundred soldiers and I could hold this mountain against ten thousand for ten years." He motioned at the stairs again and explained, "The stair is cut into the mountain, and there are sheer cliffs on either side at several points. A little explosives and I can block it off indefinitely. There are hundreds of ambush sites. And, not to put too fine a point on it, we were never sure just how crushed the cult was. If they had taken it while work was going on we never would have retaken it. So…"

He trailed off and I finished, "So we put in another entrance. Underground."

"What?" Leliana and Cassandra both said at the same time.

I shrugged, "We had a lot of dwarves after the flight from Orzammar, and a bit of magical power to work with. So we tunneled up the mountain. It comes out inside the Temple."

Cassandra asked, "And you didn't mention this earlier, why?"

I looked at her in a way that very clearly asked what she was thinking, finally I said, "We had just finished a war with Orlais. There might have been another, on more even ground. Can you imagine the propaganda victory if they took the Temple? We wanted to keep the passage secret as long as possible."

Cassandra shook her head, but didn't comment. Finally Leliana said, "Where is the entrance."

I motioned toward the gate and said, "One of them is in the gate."

"One of them," Leliana asked. I cursed at myself, then shot her a look which quite clearly told her not to ask. There were actually three entrances, but they didn't need to know that.

After a moment Trevelyan asked, "So do I just get up there, close the Rift, then we are done."

I shook my head. I somehow doubted any game would make something that easy. That sounded ridiculous though, so instead I answered, "doubtful. Something on the scale of the main Rift isn't going to be easy to close."

There was a bit more argument, but finally Cassandra agreed and I led the group to the hidden trapdoor inside the gatehouse. It was cleverly disguised as…a trapdoor completely in the open. No one ever thought about trapdoors if they knew there was a basement, and everyone was put there while waiting to being allowed up. No one ever seemed to notice that there was only one entrance.

I raised the signet ring of Gwarren, and flipped the covering off to reveal a small key, the door had been heavily based on the Redcliffe passageway. The door swung up and revealed a ladder leading down into a pitch black tunnel. Fisher swung down first, leading a small group of his soldiers after him. At the bottom they each lit a torch, and waved us down. Behind us came more soldiers, nearly thirty, as many as we could strip from the defenses without abandoning the position. I was the last one down, and after a moment's thought I locked the door behind us. At the bottom I took Bethany's hand and we started up to the Temple.

* * *

Maxwell was surprised as the passage led up. It had clearly been carved by masters, never too steep, and as the group advanced he realized it wasn't following the same path as the stair, but rather winding around the mountain. At a few points the path branched, but Fisher led them down one without hesitating. He heard Clark whisper to his wife, "Booby traps. No need to make the passage easy for intruders."

Maxwell had a sudden flash as he imagined spiked pits and collapsing ceilings from the old stories of dwarven tombs in the Deep Roads, and gulped a little at the thought. As time passed however he simply grew bored. The direct route up the mountain could take an hour, and this seemed to be at least twice as long. Finally though Fisher held up one hand and whispered back, "Not far now. Hold still while we check on the inside."

He disappeared down a side passage with a few werewolves, and the group waiting in silence until finally he reappeared and said, "It looks like the main Rift is being created by a point in the Conference Room, nothing was inside."

Clark nodded and said, "Send archers and musketeers around to the balconies over the conference room. We're going to need them if the demons come through as the Rift is being closed." Fisher quickly gave out orders and fifteen soldiers, plus Leliana who had strung her bow started up. Clark finished, "The rest of you with me. We're going to cover him," he motioned toward Maxwell, "as long as possible." Understood." There was a murmur of acknowledgement, then Fisher drew his daggers and led the way forward.

The party emerged in one of the side rooms, which to Maxwell's astonishment he had actually been in, but hadn't questioned the trapdoor in the corner, every room had them after all. Though now that he thought about it no one had ever actually opened one.

He couldn't dwell on it long however as Fisher led the group the Conference Room. Growing from the center of the room was a massive spike of Red Lyrium, which was surrounded by a green Rift which took up almost a quarter of the room. He stepped forward, and lifted on hand, letting the energy build until a pulse from the Rift caught the Mark, and the pain repeated. As it built there was a roar and an enormous pride demon erupted from inside. It roared and started forward, only for a massive answering roar to erupt from above the room. Smoke filled the room and the demon stumbled for a moment, but kept moving forward. As it did so the Rift reformed a blue energy field surrounded the demon. It grabbed at Maxwell, and Clark shoved him out of the way, only for the claw to grab him instead.

The demon lifted the Fereldan up, but after a moment dropped him, gaze locked upon the man as if in terror. Clark however screamed as he fell twenty feet, until a gust of wind caught him and swept him onto a table. He waved at Bethany in gratitude then unsteadily retook his feet. The demon moved away from Clark, moving against the balconies instead. There was another roar and eruption of smoke, but the demon barely reacted.

From behind Maxwell Solas shouted, "Hit the Rift again."

He reacted mechanically, raising one hand again, and another burst of pain, though he noted in some small rational part that wasn't screaming less painful than before, followed, and the Rift blasted apart. As it did so the demon stumbled, and was caught in another barrage of fire. This time the monster collapsed, and immediately the Fereldans were on it, hacking at legs and arms in an attempt to keep it down.

The Rift started to reform as the demon struggled back to its feet, but this time Maxwell didn't hesitate, he raised his hand unerringly and the familiar pain returned, then the Rift splintered again. He didn't lower his hand this time, and as the Rift reformed he managed to smash it again, this time of his own choosing.

Behind him the demon bellowed in something close to agony as its gateway to the Fade was cut off again and again, and with one last effort the Rift was gone, and the Red Lyrium behind it blasted apart.

But even as Maxwell looked he could still see the signs that it would reemerge, there was still a slight crack in the middle of the room, and the Rift overhead was still in place. He started to raise his hand again, but Solas put one hand on his shoulder and said, "No. I don't think we can finish it yet. You need to rest."

As he motioned to a chair the adrenaline wore off and Maxwell gratefully collapse, and a moment later passed out from the exertion.

* * *

The journey down was, thankfully much easier. The dismantling of the main Rift seemed to have banished the demons in front of the Temple and we carried Trevelyan down without issue. Eleven people who had gone to the Temple were dead, joining nearly two hundred of their fellows from the past several days of fighting. Compared to the horrendous casualties of the Blight or the Orlesian War we had gotten off lightly, but that was still an enormous part of the garrison. At least the pulses from the Rift had stopped, and when we entered Haven they were…maybe not kind faces, but at least a bit more contemplative than we normally got.

Cassandra started talking about her idea for an Inquisition again, but not even Leliana was in the mood for it. I saw to the burial of the casualties, then finally retired to the house Bethany and I shared. Unfortunately there were still letters to write, and the first one had to be to the king, which meant not much putting it off. It took another three hours to finish a report to Alistair, but finally the day was over.

I didn't know at the time, but earlier that morning Alistair had declared war on the self-styled "New Tevinter Imperium."

* * *

 **A quick note on terminology, since I don't think I've addressed it yet. The actual Thedan words for various things are naturally different from what they are OTL. Robot for instance (a word which originated from a Czech play OTL) were originally referred to in TTL version of Speculative Fiction's "mechanical golems", then eventually simply shortened to simply golems as they became more prevalent in fiction than the originals. The stone golems from the games are eventually renamed "juggernauts" after the sentries of Minrathrous, who at this point are under the control of Fenris's, and will eventually be destroyed. This change in meaning makes life a bit difficult for the equivalent of high school history students who don't pay much attention to dwarven history.**

 **Another example is the term "utopia" which OTL came about as the name of a perfect realm and meant essentially "nowhere". In this universe the term is "albion" and comes about from the stories of King Arthur and his knights (heavily modified of course given the different history, Camelot is supposed to have been sited in the distant south beyond the Korcari Wilds, and eventually destroyed by the Fifth Blight at the command of Flemeth, how this develops is a bit beyond an author's note, but what will be the seminal work will have its foundation laid a bit later; for now, let's just say a cover story got a bit out of hand) and is viewed a bit like Atlantis of OTL, always having mythical technology ahead of whatever the "modern day" is for Thedas.**

 **For simplicity (and because I'm not crazy enough to look up the etymology of that many words) I will mostly be using the OTL terms, though may occasionally put an in-universe note for something.**

 **And, anytime William references something on the grounds he thinks it "sounds like something from Dragon Age III, it's because he was transported long before Inquisition was even announced.**

 **To guest12: Don't be too hard on Trevelyan, yet. He's not so much an elitist moron from fault of his own, it's the way he was raised and nothing has ever challenged his viewpoint, yet anyway…**

 **Solas's situation is complicated…The way he perceives Clark is similar to the way Flemeth did (this was something that hasn't been brought up before, but it is why she actually saved him from the Tower of Ishal instead of one of the soldiers (as he wasn't a Warden)). Essentially they both view him as…an anomaly is the best way to put it probably. They both view his existence as being impossible, and so both are a bit intrigued by the fact that he quite clearly is real. It might come up later, when Morrigan reenters the story, but I'm not completely sure yet.**

 **By remaining forces do you mean Inquisition forces? All of them. Foreign troops are not allowed on Fereldan soil except as guards. Any soldiers who want to operate in Fereldan outside that capacity have to be Fereldan citizens. Foreigners can act in other official capacities, but the use of force is a government monopoly (nationalism has started to catch on in the country, and it will spread). Incidentally, this bit of nationalism is why the people will eventually accept an elf as queen, since at least she's a Fereldan elf, which is viewed as more acceptable than a foreign princess…also there aren't that many of those left in a few years…**

 **As for the wrong mountain…actually funny story (in universe). See, you know how only half a dozen actually managed to survive and escape from the Urn? Well, when they went to build the Temple the engineers took Alim along to help them find it again…and he got a bit mixed up. He'd only been out of the Circle for about a month when they were in Haven, and didn't really think about little things like direction or landmarks, and it had been about five years. They didn't realize it until a few years later when Alistair came to inspect the project. He thought it was hilarious, and after a bit of cajoling was convinced to keep it quiet because they couldn't afford to start over. So yes, in this universe the Temple of Sacred Ashes…is on the wrong mountain.**

 **The Chantry robes have appeared, but they aren't quite the same, the hats for instance have a slightly different design. Clark tried to convince Leliana to talk the Divine into giving the robes a more Catholic look (since he likes them better) but she didn't manage it. Leliana changes armor based on the situation. So for the crisis going on now she's wearing chainmail since stealth isn't all that useful against demons. On more covert operations she wears lighter clothing (based on the Werewolf field uniforms actually, which are themselves heavily based on various light Dalish armor (male armor that is, not the version which decided to leave the midriff exposed.))**

 **As for smugness, probably. At the very least a couple of "I told you so's." Whether the information will become common knowledge…well sort of. In the north the Black Divine is very, very keen on playing down the Inquisitor's role in stopping the end of the world, since the Inquisition is an agency which ultimately serves the southern Divine. In the south it was sort of covered up at first, then that policy was modified when Divine Victoria's reforms of the Chantry begin, a bit after she takes over as Divine about 5 years from now. One of them is to play up the idea that the Maker intervenes indirectly rather than through obvious miracles because of the disastrous results last time He took a more direct hand (which of course ended with Andraste being burned.) Farther north, it is trumpeted as an example of how anyone can be made into a symbol regardless of their background, so what use are the little things that define us (part of this story and the years immediately following it is about establishing the three main groups who will form the primary opposing sides in the future.)**

 **Finally, you noticed the little name change I see. Yes, the Divine War signals a major reorganization of Fereldan (and much of the rest of Thedas given the scale of the war) and it's international Empire (as the Sky Age is basically the OTL Imperial Age, but with the Europeans (Thedans) even more advanced, and as I hope the section at the top made clear even more pointless.) The Imperial Federation is the official name. No one likes it, and the name will be changed after about 50 years. At the time however it was a way of promising that the Fereldan king wasn't gone forever.**


	4. Chapter 3

**I meant to upload this a while, but ended up getting sick before finishing it, and then got caught up in playing through the Inquisition DLC (which I hadn't had the chance to try before). I'm not done, so please no spoilers. My technical issues are worked out finally however, and so I will be returning to a more regular update schedule starting with this chapter. I'll try to update at least on each weekend.**

Taken from, _The Divines of Thedas_

By Michael Hart

Published 10.41 SA, University of Denerim, Kingdom of Fereldan

 _Faustine III:_

 _Elected: 9.40 Dragon._

 _Died: 9.44 Dragon_

… _Faustine III is undoubtedly one of the great tragedies of the Dragon Age, an era already rife with other examples. A remarkably intelligent and forward thinking woman Faustine refused to condemn the Orlesian rebels as her predecessor had, feeling instead they had legitimate grievances with the Orlesian throne…It is thus intensely regrettable that her reign ended the way it did…_

 _Almost more important than Faustine's short reign as Divine was the precedent established by her election. The death of Justinia and her closest advisors had shorn the Chantry of the head of its power, leaving the organization flailing for footing. Realizing this the surviving Grand Clerics of Orlais rushed together and voted one of their number, a nobody to the post of Divine, assuming the crisis of the Mage War and the Rifts would keep protests to a minimum. While correct in the south this had the unfortunate side effect of alienating the Clerics of the Anderfels, who were relatively safe from both threats…_

 _The precedent of her election, that a small number of Grand Clerics could declare a Divine in an emergency would be repeated only four years later with the election of Divine Victoria I._

Chapter 3

"Fine, I believe it, he's not responsible for the Breach," Cassandra said as she, Leliana, and I gathered for our normal strategizing, that is to say Leliana tried to play peacemaker while Cassandra made unreasonable demands and bickered, and I maintained position as the only reasonable person in the room.

"Congratulations," I answered, barely looking up from the important work of doodling on a letter I was supposed to be writing to the king. 'You've managed to piece together that a…however old he is…kid failed to do what no mage has done since the magisters…"

Leliana interrupted before my reasonable observations could be finished, "Regardless we are going to have to figure out what to DO." She pointed out.

"Obviously, we need to go to Val Royeaux, to wait for the new Divine to be el…" Cassandra started.

"Val Royeaux is a weeks away," I pointed out. "And that's assuming you get to the coast and find a ship to take you there. More if you don't." Before she could say anything I added, "And I'm not loaning you a navy ship. The fleet is in Amaranthine right now regardless, which would probably take even more time."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Cassandra demanded.

I started to answer, but again Leliana swept in and said, "You know Cassandra, we do still have Divine mandate, and it will be hard for a new one to rescind…"

Cassandra considered, then asked, "Form the Inquisition now? Without an Inquisitor, without support…"

"Isn't Inquisitor just a fancy word for an interrogator?" I asked, putting the finishing touches on the dinosaur fighting a spaceship.

Leliana punched my arm and said, "Don't be difficult. The Inquisition was the order that preceded the Templars and the Seekers, before the Chantry was fully established. If we start now we could lay the groundwork, set up agents, establish contacts, train force…"

"No, absolutely not." I said immediately. Both women swiveled to look at me and I finally looked up and said, "Fereldan law quite clearly bans all foreign military presence on national soil with exceptions only for preapproved guards. You aren't raising an army in our country."

Cassandra started to object, but Leliana, who had also experienced Alistair's, and given the king's current state my, stubbornness immediately agreed. She settled back down into her chair and said, "To be honest we don't need soldiers in Fereldan. We have Chantry armies in Antiva, and I'm sure Nevarra and Orlais won't object strenuously." She paused, then continued, "But, this doesn't help us decide what to do next. We need to close the Rift permanently, which means we need more magical power to help Trevelyan push it closed."

"We have plenty of magic," I pointed out. "The Redcliffe Circle isn't far away, and they can get more help from Calenhad." After a moment's thought I continued, "What we really need is for Trevelyan to get more practice closing rifts…"

"Then what exactly do you suggest?" Cassandra demanded.

I shrugged, "Honestly no idea. We don't know how much magic will actually be needed to close a tear as large as the Rift.

Leliana sighed, "I suppose.

Cassandra tried to argue further, but with Leliana on my side she finally had no choice but to give in. The meeting broke up, which meant that, as always, I was supposed to go and read some letters, or sign something (Alistair's signature wasn't exactly very complicated). And as usual I pushed those off until they were a little more urgent.

I started packing up the documents as Cassandra left, and as the door closed behind her Leliana was still standing in the room. I glanced at her and asked, "How are you doing?"

She sighed, "Justinia was the best of us, she was an amazing woman who dedicated her entire life to the Maker." She continued, growing louder as she went, "And He just let her die. What's the point of faith if nothing ever comes of it?"

"The Lord always answers," I quoted from a homily so distant I could barely remember it, "Don't assume that just because you don't like the answer that there wasn't one." She glared at me and I continued, "What kind of world would we live in if everyone got what they asked for?"

She shook her head, "I don't know why I'm even talking about this, you don't even believe in the Maker."

I smiled, "you said once that your God and mine were the same. Now, I don't believe that for a second, but the Church taught that the Lord gives us strength, helps us to keep going when things seem darkest, but we are responsible for moving forward."

I extended a hand and said, "Come on, the others should be getting back from closing the rifts in the valleys soon."

* * *

Maxwell sagged against a nearby stone as the green tear vanished. It had been the fourth rift of the day, and he was beginning to feel the exhaustion. Nearby the Teyrnessa checked her list and announced, "That was the last one in the area. If we go north ahead it will swing us around to the main road. There should be one more before we get back to Haven."

She rolled the paper up, then slid the attachments for her shoes back on, and quickly settled herself on top of the snow again.

Maxwell nodded wearily, then waited for the escort to lead the way. The Fereldan soldiers in white and brown moved into the trees on either side of the road, and a moment later they seemed to have vanished. The Chantry mercenaries broke into two groups, twenty ahead of Maxwell and twenty behind him. Their leader, an enormous Qunari in armored pants took his place as the personal guard of the Herald, as many seemed to be calling him. The Teyrnessa was on the other side, her personal guard of five Templars moving ahead of her.

The group was rounded out by Varric and Solas hanging back behind Maxwell, both content to let the others take the risks on the road. The forest went on for almost a mile before the group made it back to the Highway, the main (and only) road in this part of Fereldan. The trees had been cleared for nearly one hundred feet on each side, to keep bandits from hiding along the road, though in the years since this part had been built vegetation had started to creep back.

The Fereldan scouts had been visible for a few moments as they cross to the forest still growing on the far side of the road, but they had disappeared almost immediately on crossing back into the trees. Despite himself Maxwell had to admit he was impressed. There was naturally no doubt that a group of Ostwick knights would have no difficulty against such soldiers.

His thoughts were interrupted as the familiar pang of a rift ran through one hand, and he felt the mark begin to burn ever so slightly as it reacted to the energy of the Fade. There was a whistle from ahead, and the party turned a corner into a rift standing open on the road. A small number of demons was clustered around it, but they couldn't leave the immediate area without the main Rift active.

With a roar the Qunari and his men raised their weapons and advanced on the demons, mostly Shades, who barely reacted until the leader crossed the invisible line which marked the extent of their mobility.

As one the demons turned and swarmed. More came from the rift, including the tall green monsters the soldiers had nicknamed "terrors" for the sounds they made. One of the larger monsters started to slow, and then was steadily pushed back inside as Solas began working his magic on the rift and its surroundings.

As the mercenaries began holding the demons off the Templars closed up and began advancing, their shields locked in place and tilted just enough to stop magical energy that might impact from bouncing up. As they did so the first volley of arrows came from the trees into the now more solid mass of demons. Four second later a second volley came, then a third.

Arrows against demons, Maxwell reflected, as the shades were barely slowed by them, were not particularly effective.

He moved forward, his own sword and shield at the ready, in case one of the monsters broke through the Templars and mercenaries. Beside him the Teyrnessa had kicked off her snowshoes and was moving along as another guard, as the dwarf took his other side.

He glanced down at one hand to see the familiar blue glow of the shield Clark cast on the group with her left hand even as her other hand held the small bladeless hilt. He heard the shriek of a terror, and instinctively dove forward, barely landing before there was an impact behind him as the creature emerged from the small gap into the Fade which had opened below his feet.

Maxwell rolled and brought his sword up to block the claws of the creature as it swept them down. There was a horrible shudder as the impact nearly tore the sword out of his hand, but he held on and managed to strike back, hitting the creature with the blade.

Unfortunately, against a creature of Fade energy like the Terror a nonenchanted blade was little more use than an arrow had been on the Shades, which at least had some kind of substance to them. The creature raised its claws to strike again, only to find its hand ripped off by the glowing green blade which had appeared in Clark's hand. She slashed upward, the immaterial blade shifting direction effortlessly. It cut through the creature's head, and the terror's form failed, it was ripped apart by the energy release and sucked back through the rift. The Teyrnessa looked to one side, and Maxwell followed her gaze to see the mercenaries clearly being forced back, only their discipline and numbers keeping the shades from overwhelming them.

There was a sudden rush of cold, and the woman was gone. She reappeared among the mercenaries, and with a magical slash drove the demons back for a moment. As they withdrew she brought the other hand around, and a wall of flames appeared between the two groups.

Maxwell was distracted as a rough hand grabbed him and Varric said, "Move, you have to close the rift."

Maxwell grimaced at the touch, but didn't argue. He moved forward again, moving through the fighting Templars and shades until finally he felt the mark activate again. With a shudder he raised his hand, and let the mark simply take over. The familiar rush of energy followed, as did the pain, but finally the rift slammed shut. With their source of power and link to reality severed the demons vanished back into the Fade. The scraps which the shades had animated collapsed, and there was quiet.

The Chantry mercenaries, Maxwell had never bothered to learn the group's name, had lost another four members. That brought the count for the day to nearly thirty. Behind him the mercenaries piled their number again, then stood back as a Templar said a short blessing, and Clark waved her hand to begin cremation. The magical flames engulfed the bodies rapidly and had burned them away in minutes.

Maxwell waited impatiently as the ceremony finished. He was eager to return to the warm house set up for him in the town, even if it was trash compared to the estates in the Free Marches before the war, or even the Nevarran properties acquired after.

At last the mercenaries gathered the remaining personal items of their fallen comrades and returned to position for the march back to Haven.

* * *

As we waited for the group to return I finally started going through the reports sent in through the last few weeks. I opened the first one, skimmed it, and put it aside for later. Something about a dragon being seen near Redcliffe. The local garrison could probably handle it. I went through them one by one, somehow these didn't seem particularly important while a giant hole was in the sky.

Beside me Leliana said suddenly, "I think we've overlooked something."

I thought for a moment, then finally said, "What?"

"Exactly how much food is actually in Haven?" she asked.

I froze, as I realized the answer was, not enough. It hadn't come up through the previous days, the Rift had absorbed everyone's attention. But she had a point. Most of the food we'd brought in for the conclave had been inside the Temple, and subsequently destroyed.

She recognized my expression and said, "We need a map. Surely there's a town nearby that will sell some until our messengers can get to Redcliffe."

We poured over a map for nearly twenty minutes before finally we found one that was close enough. It was out of the mountains, so would almost certainly have better food reserves than Haven had built up, not to mention not being under martial law. As we finished the sound of cheering came from outside, and Leliana commented, "I guess they are back."

I nodded and we returned to the front of the Chantry as Trevelyan enjoyed the adoration of the people of Haven, who seemed to have switched their fixation from a dead dragon to a live snob. Not particularly wanting to hear the details of whatever heroics had gone on I let Bethany catch my hand and we withdrew from the crowd as the stories started.

* * *

"I don't see why I have to go," Bethany said the next day as Leliana explained our situation with supplies.

Leliana rolled her eyes and answered, "Because your husband doesn't want Cassandra or Trevelyan in charge, and the local lord would probably respond more positively to a Fereldan Teyrnessa showing up than two foreign nobles. You'll be gone four days at most."

Finally my wife relented and she agreed. After a bit of discussion she decided to take Trevelyan along, in case there were more rifts; Iron Bull, to have an impressive bodyguard; and Cassandra, because she knew how irritating I found the woman.

The party rode away around noon of the same day, though as they left I felt something tickle the back of my memory. For some reason Honnleath sounded familiar.

 **A/N: Yes, I know the Catholic Doctrine the OC talks about, or will talk about as the foundation of the ideas Leliana will eventually bring into the Chantry is laid, isn't completely correct. it's been ten years since he has actually even MET another Catholic, let alone been to Mass. Cut him a little slack.**

 **Also, just because it might cause some confusion, Bethany will sometimes be referred to as Clark by the Inquisitor, though not when both she and the OC are in the same section of the story.**


	5. Chapter 4

Taken from: _The Fade and Its Inhabitants_

by Teagan Guerrin [1]

Published 9.73 DA. University of Denerim, Kingdom of Fereldan

…Desire Demons are one of the most underestimated foes a mage may face within the Fade, bested only by pride demons. Most layfolk think of Desire Demons as the naked women they are often depicted as in paintings, but this is not true. Real Desire Demons appear in a variety of forms, from the common view, to something as small as a kitten…

What connects all of these creatures together is a singular ability with magic barely dreamt of among magic users. By connecting their power to the mage whose body the Desire Demon inhabits grants the monster control over a wide variety of tools, from the undead to time itself…

 **Chapter 4**

"What happened here?" Maxwell asked as the group crested a hill to find all the plant life completely dead, leaving a barren wastelend of plants which had barely begun rotting away.

"The Blight," Bethany answered sadly. "Half of the south is like this. It's part of the reason so much of Orlais was annexed after the war, Fereldan lost much of its land, and the recovery has barely started." She paused for a minute, then frowned. Finally she said, "But…this is wrong." She started to speak faster, as she remembered more, "The Blight didn't reach this far. It started in Ostagar, advanced up the Imperial Highway to Lothering, then spread northwest into the Bannorn and Brecilian Forest to approach Denerim. It didn't go this way. It couldn't have."

"Why not?" Cassandra asked curiously.

"My husband is the one behind Fereldan's tax system," Bethany said. "He complains all the time about the revenue they lose from regions even lightly touched by the Blight. He even has a map up in the Denerim estate showing which regions were hit, marked based on how much the country collects." She gestured around at the dead wilderness and said, "There have never been problems with this area. The payment arrives on time every year…" She lasped into silence, then sped up the group up.

The Blighted land stretched for miles, in some places there were signs of life, mosses and lichens sprouting from exposed rock as nature tried to reassert itself. Then, almost before the group had noticed they were out. It didn't fade, or slowly recover, but rather suddenly turned back into living landscape. Stranger Maxwell thought, it was…alive. Not just unblighted, but green, and he could see fields of wheat in the distance.

All of which would have been perfectly normal…if winter hadn't started over a month ago.

Bethany frowned, and after a moment began waving a hand. Rather than the normal surge of power however she sent out only a small magical pulse, virtually undetectable. Then she frowned and said, "Damn."

"What is it?" Cassandra asked from behind her.

Bethany took a deep breath then said, "Something has found a way to keep the region free of the Blight," she gestured and continued, "and the weather apparently."

Behind her Iron Bull muttered something which sounded suspiciously like, "Obviously…"

"What could do that?" Cassandra demanded, ignoring the Qunari.

Bethany frowned. "I have no idea." She paused then said, "William once told me about what happened in Redcliffe, a demon was able to raise hundreds of corpses, far more than actually lived there, and to do this for days on end. No mage could have managed it. We are dealing with a demon, one that is extremely powerful."

"Wonderful," Cassandra said after a moment. "We should got back to get help."

"Agreed," Bethany said, and moved her horse around. The others followed her, until they reached the edge of the green region, continued, and found themselves moving back into the enchanted region. They tried again, and again, but each time found themselves reversed each time an attempt to leave was made.

"Or," the Teyrnessa said finally, "We could keep going and hope the demon isn't too ridiculously powerful…"

Maxwell joined Cassandra and Iron Bull in groaning at the prospect. Bethany steeled her shoulders, and began forward.

Fields passed as the group went on, and throughout each the workers stood from their labor, waved, then returned to work. It took until they had passed the third group of farm laborers before Maxwell realized what had been bothering him, each waved was exactly the same. Not a similar gesture, but completely the same. Each person used the same hand angle, the same, almost mechanical, timing. There was no simply no variation.

An hour passed before the town of Honnleath loomed in the distance. Past it a small castle, probably the local lord's home, could be seen. The town was small, with children playing in the street, adults carrying goods to the town market, and merchants hawking goods to sell.

None of them smiled, at all. The children ran along with no sign of enjoyment, just a palpable sense of fear and despair. After a time Maxwell noted they never made any progress in the game, they ran the exact same route from one side of town to the other, with no variation. As he looked closer the path of their track was clearly wound into the ground, as if they had been running the exact same path for years.

At that realization he looked to the adults, and saw that the majority held empty baskets, or baskets which were filled with items having no bearing on what was actually sold. Bethany held up one hand and dismounted. As the rest watched she approached a town guard and said, "Excuse me."

The man did not react, instead staring directly ahead with no sign he had heard except for a slight flicker of the eyes. After a moment Bethany said, louder, "I am the Teyrnessa of Gwarren and demand an audience with your lord." Again the man gave no indication he had heard.

Finally the woman jerked her hand, and the man was thrown aside by a sudden impact of force. The reaction was immediate. He began to sob, and after a moment cried, "It wasn't my fault. Punish her, she's not obeying, she's not…" Whatever force held him took no notice however as he began to scream in pain. Blood began to seep from his mouth, eyes, and ears. He was clearly in agony, and as the blood came out faster, and from the sudden soaking of his clothes it was clear other areas were bleeding as well. Finally he stopped writhing and died. Bethany took a step back, motioning to summon the protective blue shield around herself.

There was no reaction from the townsfolk, who continued in their activities as if nothing had happened, or so Maxwell thought. After a moment he realized they had reacted, several were quietly crying, though whether out of sympathy or fear he didn't know. Only one person actively took notice, a single merchant with almost nothing for sale started gesturing the four over. After a moment's hesitation Bethany went, and motioned for the others to follow her.

The man glanced around carefully, then said loudly, "may I show the lady the latest Orlesian silks? Direct from Val Royeaux." He made a show of holding out a large bundle of cloth from the stall, one of the only items present. Then in a lower voice he said, "You have to be careful here, it is always watching us. I haven't lived here as long as the others, it hasn't got quite as good a hold on my, yet. You have to leave, get out before it finds you too."

Bethany reached out one hand to touch the fabric, and the grimace made it clear that whatever this was, it wasn't silk. She responded quietly, "What IS going on?"

The man shrugged, "I don't know. It was already here when I arrived. By the time I realized though…it had me." He paused and said, "I am Felix de Grosbois. I was traveling here to try to gain a golem servant…only the Blight happened, and I barely made it here, and the golem didn't work. I've been stuck here for months."

"Months?" asked Cassandra. "What year do you think it is?"

The man blinked and said, "Well 9.31 or 32 I guess. Why?"

Bethany took a breath and said, "I'm sorry, but its 9.40. You've been stuck here for 8 years."

The man almost fell, but managed to catch himself. Then finally he said, "That's impossible. I know it…" He started to shake, but again caught himself. "If you want to stop the monster go to the house next to the golem. It's where the monster lives. Please, let us out."

Bethany nodded gravely, then turned to face the house and said, "We will."

She flicked her hand, and the sword hilt slipped from its holder in her robes to land in her right hand. The door opened easily, revealing what had been a small library. Now the shelves had been smashed, and in one corner was the body of a man who looked as if he had died years before. Bethany stepped inside carefully. She was followed by Cassandra, who held her shield up in a position modeled by the Templars. Maxwell and Iron Bull followed them, their own weapons at the ready. There was no sign of activity, so Bethany moved forward, avoiding anything that looked like a trap, until finally she emerged into a family room.

A little girl sat playing with a doll in one corner, and as they came in her face lit up and she said, "Visitors. I haven't had visitors since Daddy went away." Her face fell a little at these words, but she brighted again soon after, then said, "But I'm sure you'll play with me. Kitty says so."

"Kitty," asked Cassandra. "What is Kitty?"

"A cat stupid." The girl answered. "What else would she be? She's my kitty, she plays with me and protects me, and keeps everyone safe."

Bethany knelt and said in her sweetest voice, "What is your name?"

The girl said happily, "Amalia. My daddy is Matthias, but he went away. Kitty says he hates me and will never come back."

"Amalia," Bethany said steadily, "Could we meet Kitty?"

"Of course." The little girl said. "She lives in the basement. Come with me."

She darted to the stairs in one corner of the room, and the group had to run to keep up with her. Amalia took them through a maze of tunnels underneath the house, obviously hollowed out with magic. At the end sat a single orange tabby cat, which Maxwell thought looked almost exactly like a younger version of the cat he'd seen in Clark's office in Haven. This one however had glowing purple eyes.

Bethany narrowed her eyes and said, "Hello Kitty. I can recognize a Desire Demon when I see one."

The cat sat up and looked directly at her, then said, "Well, finally a challenge. The girl has natural talent, but you my dear have training. Tell me, what is it that you want?" There was a pause as the two stared at each other, then the Demon seemed to shrink back a little before saying, "You can't keep me out forever. I overcame the girl, and her father, and this entire town is mine."

Amalia began to skip around the room, apparently completely unconcerned about the conflict building between her new friends and her pet.

"How," Bethany asked. "No lone demon could have this much power."

The creature started to say something, but before it could do so Cassandra caught the slight flick of Bethany's hand, and unleashed her powers upon the demon. The lyrium in the floors below it glowed to life, and began to burn the creature. It has positioned itself at the very center of power constructed into the house, and now all that power was turned against it. Even so however a Desire Demon was a greater opponent than any of them had ever faced, and as flung itself back, shifting form from a cat into an owl as it did so. The creature swooped over them and darted toward the exit. It rapidly left the others behind, until finally they burst out through a side entrance and emerged in the town square, where the creature shifted form again, this time into a griffin. With a yell Cassandra charged at it, shield in front of her and sword at the ready. She had barely approached before the monster batted her away with one pay, and swept its wings back, then forward creating a wind that drove the woman back. Bethany gestured, and vanished in a small move as her spell shot her forward, behind the griffin.

Her magical sword swung, taking the griffin on the back. On a normal creature the wound would almost certainly have been deadly, or at least crippling. To a monster of pure magic like the Desire Demon the blow was only an invitation to lash out against the attacker. Bethany's shield flashed blue, then vanished as she was thrown backward through the doorway of another building. A moment later Iron Bull was thrown aside as well.

Through all of this Maxwell hadn't ran ahead to fight the creature. Instead he had returned to his horse, not a simple beast of burden, but a charger of the Free Marches. A horse who had been bred to carry a quarter of a ton at full gallop in full battle. He swung himself onto the creature, then drew up his helm and latched it on fully. Finally he reached for the special item he had brought, a lance. The weapon was twelve feet long, and had a rune built into it. It was one of the finest weapons the Trevelyan family owned, which had been passed down since the Exalted Marches against the Qunari Ages before, it had been completely replaced hundreds of times since then, but no once cared about that. It had belonged to his cousin, now dead, for use in battling the mages when they returned to Antiva. Now however Maxwell took it up, and drew the weapon up so it was pointed perpendicular to him. He ordered the horse forward, and began to trot to the griffin, slowly picking up speed along the way.

As Maxwell closed he lowered the lance, aiming it where the griffin's heart should have been. The creature screeched and darted forward, attempting to grab the attacker from atop his horse. As the monster loomed Maxwell braced himself, and brought the lance into its right side. There was a screech, and the creature began to shift into another shape as its momentum, combined with the knight and warhorse.

It landed in the normal form of a desire demon. It extended one hand, and Maxwell felt an impact slam into his chest, knocking his plate in and he fell from the horse. As the demon swept her hand down, the slight sound of magic filling Maxwell's ears he saw a light blue glow surround him, and the impact left him winded, but alive and conscious. He struggled to stand, but found himself hauled up by Iron Bull, who handed him back his shield and said, "Can't let them do all the work."

Ahead of the pair Cassandra was standing behind her shield, using it to absorb the constant waves of power that were being thrown at her by the demon as it devoted its main focus to fighting Clark, who was using her sword to knock the demon's magical bursts away. Maxwell stood, and hefted his sword, then he moved around to the demon's far side, as Iron Bull yelled and charged.

The distraction pulled the demon's focus away, and as it did so Bethany suddenly threw something at the demon. A moment later it impacted, and the grenade exploded. It had an outer coating of refined lyrium, and the demon screamed as the magical fire swept over it. The group moved as one, and as the demon tried to put the flames out all four of their weapons impacted on it.

There was a crack as the demon lost its form, and was gone.

As it disappeared the town shifted. The buildings began to collapse from neglect as nearly a decade passed in moments. Around them the people aged rapidly as the spell placed over them was broken. Several simply stared blankly at the world around them, barely comprehending the changes that had taken place. Felix however ran up to them and said, "You did it. Thank you. If I can ever repay you don't hesitate to ask." He paused, then said, "Now I think I'm going back to Jader. I should be able to get in touch with my old contacts when I'm back in Orlais." He frowned, then pulled out a long rod and said, "Maybe this can help. It was supposed to wake the golem. The man who lived in that house," he pointed to the home of the little girl and demon, which had now completely collapsed on itself, "told me once my code words were wrong, it should have been dulen harn."

Bethany started to protest, but he shoved the rod into her hands, then quickly left the town. The Teyrnessa looked at the rod for a moment, then shrugged and said, "does anyone want to wake up a golem?"

A moment Maxwell, feeling a bit overconfident from the battle held out his hand and said, "I'll do it."

Bethany handed the rod over without complaint, then saw the girl from the house, now a young woman staring at the spot the demon had disappeared. She had sunk to her knees, and was slumping over. From beside her Cassandra said, "she's been giving up her life to the demon for years. She can't survive without it being here."

Bethany nodded sadly. "I know, but I was lucky not to end up like her. I wish we could have gotten here earlier."

* * *

The golem's name was Shale, and it was a rather odd creature. There was the hatred of birds, the general dislike for anything which might give orders, but also had nothing better to do than follow the people who had woken it up.

And so as the group passed back out of the Blighted region with one more member the group was halted by an arrow which impacted six feet in front of them. From the snow emerged men in the white and brown of the werewolf winter armor.

Fisher approached slowly, his short sword raised slightly, and he ordered, "Stop there."

Maxwell started to snap an order at him, but Bethany beat him to it, demanding, "What is going on?"

"Ma'am," the soldier said flatly, "you have been missing for two months."

"What?" Cassandra demanded, but we only left a few days…" She trailed off as the reality of their situation struck her.

The others had had the same thought and Bethany finally said, "So you think we are possessed?"

"Let us simply smash its head." Shale said from behind her.

Fisher showed no reaction, however he said, "If you aren't possessed we'll know in a few minutes."

The group waited, the bows still trained on them, until a figure Bethany unfortunately recognized all too well arrived. Warden Idunna, she reflected, had come a long way since Kirkwall. The woman pulled out a dagger and said, "I need to see your hand." Bethany nodded, while the others drew back a little. Bethany grimaced as the blade sliced into one of her fingers, and Idunna quickly caught it in a small glass vial. She held the blood up to one eye and began to wave her fingers behind it, manipulating the blood as she did so.

After a moment Idunna lowered the vial and said, "She's clean."

Fisher bowed to Bethany and said, "Apologies my lady. Orders."

Bethany nodded, "Of course. Is the teyrn here?"

"Of course," the soldier answered. "He will be happy to see you. If you will come with me."

* * *

"A desire demon?" Leliana asked as Bethany finished telling us about the last two months, or about the last day as she told it. "We've never had reports of a demon with that level of power."

"Which doesn't tell us much," I pointed out. "Ten years ago no one thought it was possible for a Warden to survive killing an Archdemon. Alistair did." I nodded to Bethany and said, "You can manipulate time on a small scale even now. There's no reason a demon wouldn't be able to maintain a far more powerful field."

Leliana frowned, then said, "That's…disconcerting. If time can be slowed down, who's to say it couldn't be stopped, or even reversed. Like in that story you told me, years ago about the scientific Fade."

"Eternity." I said, the story one of those odd little things that I still remembered. After a moment I said, "This really doesn't need to get out. If there was a way to screw with time on a large scale…" I didn't finish the thought, it was clear the others had gotten the idea.

"On a more cheery note," Leliana said, "With Trevelyan back and the Redcliffe Circle in Haven we should have enough power to attempt to close the Rift permanently."

* * *

As the meeting broke up Bethany finally asked, "So, what happened to the supplies?"

I scowled and answered, "I had really hoped that after the Blight, and then the Deep Roads that my time on rations was over. We basically tightened our belts, hunted every animal out of the woods around Haven and waited for help to come. It seems we didn't miss any of the rifts around Haven however, so that's something to be thankful for."

Bethany settled into the chair next to me and said, "Then all that's left is closing the Rift?"

I shrugged, "No. We still don't know who's behind it, and Alistair has sent word he wants to move against the rebels as soon as possible. He's marshaling the fleet at Jader for now, and raising a volunteer force to send north."

She sighed and said, "If we could go just five years without the a crisis I would be happy. Is it really so much to ask?"

I smiled at her and answered, "Apparently not. But eventually the universe will run out of evil things to throw at us. You know, maybe."

 **[1]: This is the grandson of Conner, not the Teagan of the games.**

 **Also, yes I skated over Shale's introduction, as it goes essentially like it does in the game.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the LONG delay for this. My former computer died two days after I last updated and I wasn't able to salvage any of the documents related to this story from it. So I've had to recreate all of my notes from what I could directly remember and what I've discussed with the people who helped me come up with the story. I think I've mostly finished the important stuff now. That said, it is very possible I forgot something, so if you see something that contradicts something please let me know.**

 _ **"Imagine there's no Maker. Its easy if you try...Imagine all the people, living for today. Imagine there's no kingdoms. It isn't hard to do, nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too...Imagine no possessions, no need for greed or hunger. Imagine all the people, a Brotherhood of Man...**_

 _ **"They may say that we are dreamers. But we aren't the only ones. Someday we know they will join us, and the world will live as one."**_

 _ **-Chant of the United People of Thedas, based on a rhyme recited by their founder. While normally he is credited with creating it, the actual origin is unknown.**_

 **Chapter V**

We arranged the mages along the upper balconies, with lyrium distributed among them to ensure whatever magical power was needed wouldn't run out while the Rift was closed. The actual rift was surrounded by Templars prepared to funnel the magic poured into the Rift and keep any power that escaped from the Rift itself from killing everyone in the room. Arrayed behind them were Fereldan soldiers equipped with whatever anti-demon weaponry we had managed to scrape together. That amounted to sixteen extra Templar swords, and a couple of shields. The rest maintained their normal weaponry.

Cassandra carefully looked over the preparations, made sure we were out of earshot, and asked, "Do we have any idea what we're doing?"

I frowed and shot a glance at Idunna. She shrugged and answered, "No. Solona thinks the theory's sound, but...well this isn't exactly something carefully researched." She frowned for a moment, then ducked out of site of the rest of the room as she doubled over and began to cough. Cassandra stepped closer, but I held out an arm and shook my head. After a moment Idunna gasped and pulled a dagger from her belt and slashed her palm open. Her eyes turned black for a moment and she shuddered as she straightened. "Its getting worse," she whispered quietly.

"Do we have any idea what's causing it?" I asked.

She coughed again, and as she pulled her hand away it was coated in black blood. Then finally she answered slowly, "No. Avernus can't track down why we're being hit so hard. The best he's come up with is both of the last archdemon's waking up at the same time. It takes the Commander and him nearly everything they have just trying to keep us under control now. If we can't stop it in the next few months..." She trailed off but the implication was clear. Alistair had plans to march the entire force into the Deep Roads to answer the Calling if nothing could be done.

Thankfully before I could dwell on that Solas finished...whatever he was doing, and announced we were ready to close the Rift for good. I signaled for everyone to take their places, and went to join my wife where she waited with the other mages.

* * *

Maxwell looked around at the hundreds of people surrounding him, each one standing ready to help him to close the Rift. More than that though these people were in adoration of him, the proclaimed Herald of Andraste. In the two and a half months since the Rift opened the story seemed to be spreading across Fereldan like wildfire, and from what little information Leliana had given him on the ride back to Haven the story was quickly moving across the rest of Thedas. He remembered something about the strategic implications Clark and Leliana had talked about, a morale boost for the rather beleaguered Chantry armies in particular. None of that mattered though. His family taught that they were all above the commoners, each destined for something great. This was his chance.

He raised one hand to the Rift and began focusing the energy on it. He would close it now, the world would be saved, and he would be the savior of everyone, the most important figure in all of history since Andraste herself. The power began rushing out of the mark on his hand as it began to glow brighter and brighter. Above and behind him the mages unleashed their own power, expanding and strengthening the power flowing through his Mark until the smaller rift anchor ripped open again and the pulses in the sky began again. On cue the Templars focused their own power on the Rift, warping the energy Maxwell was releasing to surround the portal and force the power of the Fade back in on itself, stopping further demons coming through.

More and more power poured into the Rift and it slowly began to close. Maxwell lost track of how long he stood there, but finally the Rift was gone. There was silence for a moment, then a massive wave of energy swept over the room. The power the Templars were still keeping up kept the energy from ripping the ruined building apart, along with everyone in it. Then the energy swept into the sky, and as it did so the Rift began to disappear.

* * *

I sighed as the noise of the party outside reverberated through the Chantry. Beside me Bethany said, "Let them celebrate dear. This was a win."

I shrugged, "We don't know what opened the Rift. Or who." I started to go on when Idunna's coughing interrupted me.

After a moment the familiar sound of her dagger being drawn could be heard. A moment later her coughs subsided and I finally asked, "Do you think the Calling and the Rift might be connected?"

Idunna shrugged, "I don't see how. The darkspawn aren't known for magical prowess."

"You know..." Bethany said slowly.

I looked at her for a moment puzzled, then remembered the story of Corypheus. "He's dead." I pointed out.

"Well yes," she answered, "but he couldn't have been the only magister."

"What are you two talking about?" Idunna asked.

Bethany quickly explained the story of Corypheus to Idunna, who slowly grew to look more concerned. Finally she asked, "Why didn't you two mention this earlier?"

"I didn't think it was important." I answered. "So...I guess we probably have another of the original Magisters running around trying to destroy the world or something. Maybe more than one."

Idunna was silent for a moment, then finally said, "So that's probably the answer then. We'll need to let Avernus know. He might be able to counter it. Or the Commander..."

Before we could talk more Cassandra threw the door open and said, "We have a problem."

I stood and asked, "What?"

She shrugged, "I don't know, but there is gunfire from the valley, and some of the partiers say they see a horseman approaching the gates."

I sighed, "Okay, I'll meet you at the gates. Get as many sober people as possible armed."

Cassandra nodded, "Of course, Leliana is waiting for you."

"Well dear," I said, kissing Bethany on the cheek. "Hopefully I'll be back in a few minutes. Just in case though you might want to go grab that sword."

She smiled a bit darkly and said, "I will. Just this once please let it be nothing."

* * *

The town outside was as would be expected from people who had saved the world. Even the inhabitants of Haven, normally more than a little paranoid toward us were out in force. Not because they had come to our side, but because the Herald of Andraste was among them. I hoped that maybe they would settle down and not have to be garrisoned in the future, but didn't have much hope. There was chanting in the background, something about the Herald, but Bethany and I gave them a wide berth. I didn't feel like going through this nonsense right now. The gates of the town were flung open and Leliana was waiting with the Bull's Chargers, though thankfully the qunari himself wasn't present.

I liked the Chargers. They were nice and professional, unlike the Chantry guards we generally had to deal with. As we waited for the rider to finish reaching the gate the soldiers simply stood, weapons sheathed and waiting for a signal. In the background I could hear the occassional musket retort in the background. Finally the rider slowed as he saw us waiting and I could see it was Cammen. He quickly jumped off the horse and said, "Darkspawn attacked out positions in the valley. Several hundred at least. And, I think there were mages among them?"

"Mages?" Leliana asked, "Here? How do you know?"

"Its those staves we've heard about, the glowing red ones," Cammen answered. "And there was also..." He paused. "Something else, I don't know what. We thought at first they were ogres, but they were too big, and too wide, and they had the same glow."

"What about the rest of your squad?" I asked after a moment.

"They are trying to hold the enemy back deeper in the valley. If possible the Captain will try to blow the bridges into Haven."

I nodded, then turned to one of the Fereldan troops standing nearby. "Sound the alert. I want everyone who can hold a weapon on the battlements. Find artillerymen first. We'll need the cannons if the enemy has brought ogres."

He nodded, "Yes sir." With a quick salute the soldier proceeded up into the village."

Leliana sighed, "Would a week of peace be too much to ask."

"Apparently," I muttered. The gunfire suddenly sounded much closer, and we turned to see flashes alarmingly close."

I didn't notice Iron Bull approach as I pulled out a spyglass and looked toward the flashes. After a moment I saw the giant creatures Cammen had mentioned. I said flatly, "Oh...shit."

"What?" Leliana and Iron Bull asked at the same time.

I wordlessly handed over the glass to Leliana who quickly looked, and she finally echoed quietly, "Oh...shit."

Bull finally held out his hand for it and looked as well. And he also only had one reaction. "Shit."

"What?" Cassandra, who had apparently finally arrived asked.

I turned and said, "You know those flesh golems you were talking about during the Conference?" She nodded slowly. "Well..." I said before trailing off, not sure how to finish the thought.

Leliana managed, "They've been coated with Red Lyrium."

* * *

"Ideas?" I asked as Iron Bull left to gather his own soldiers.

"Other than we're dead you mean?" Leliana muttered.

"Let's not be pessimistic." I answered with a bit of fake cheer. "Some of us might just be maimed horribly."

"Would you too focus?" Cassandra snapped. "There has to be something we can do. We can't let our efforts end here. If the Herald," that name was getting really grating, "dies here the world might not survive another."

"We need more soldiers." I said finally. "A lot more. We don't have enough soldiers to actually man the wall around the town, and forget about reinforcing a breach."

"I might be able to help with that," said a voice from behind me. I had the strangest feeling I'd heard it before, but couldn't place it. So I turned and found a tall, beared man glaring down at me.

Finally I asked, "Have we met?"

"Once." He answered. "Ten years ago, atop that mountain." He nodded to one of the mountains surrounding the town. When your group killed the dragon we held sacred."

"Ah." I said, stepping backward and lowered one hand to the flintlock pistol I had there. "And you were saying?"

"My name is Kolgrim." He swept his hand across the valley, "And all of this was mine before the Herald came. I led the dragon cult dedicated to Andraste." He paused for a moment, then continued, "But it is clear now my anscestors were wrong. Andraste would send us a beacon to reunite the world, but it wasn't until now that he arrived. The Herald of Andraste saved the world and now he will lead us in our glorious crusade against the unbelievers."

I blinked, not really sure how to respond to that. Fortunately Leliana smoothly took over. "We'd be happy to accept any help you can offer the Herald in defending this town and holy site. Do you have any suggestions for the defense."

Kolgrim shrugged, "Give me a few minutes to gather the men and tell us where to go. You might want to seperate us from the Fereldans though. There might be a bit of bad blood." He glanced back down at me and said, "Which we will discuss later."

"Of course." I answered, not letting go of my pistol. Without another word Kolgrim left, presumably to muster whoever would fight.

"That could have gone worse," Leliana commented.

I nodded, then said, "Remind me to ask Fisher to knife that guy if he gets the chance."

She elbowed me and said, "Don't talk that way. Knife him afterwards." We looked at each other and then started laughing. I don't really know why, but we were doomed so it really didn't matter.

Before Cassandra could interrupt us, Alec Fisher and the remnants of his squad arrived. He performed the closest thing a werewolf did to a salute before saying, "We held them back as long as we could. There were at least a thousand darkspawn, maybe more. And they have flesh golems armored with Red Lyrium."

"What about mages?" I asked.

"Perhaps twenty." He said, "Any more than that and we couldn't have made it back." He paused as there was a small noise from the bridge. Then a massive explosion roared as the supports under the main bridge went out. Fisher smiled a little, "But we've definitely slowed them down." He reported a bit more information, but most of it wasn't really important. We had barely one hundred Fereldan soldiers in the town, maybe. Say fifty of Iron Bull's mercenaries, forty Templars, two dozen mages, and whoever Kolgrim rounded up. Things were not promising.

* * *

Kolgrim managed to gather three hundred townsfolk to fight on the walls. Most were armed with axes, with the rest armed with whatever farming implements they had grabbed, scythes and pitchforks for the most part. They had little or no armor for the most part, though Kolgrim and his main guards wore chainmail. On the far side of the town were the Fereldan regulars. They were armed more uniformly, with almost equal numbers of musketeers and pikemen. The pikemen wore the a cuirass, but had abandoned their normal long spears for short swords and shields instead. The most important section of our troops were the small number of cannons set up on the walls. During the years while we had to occupy the town the military had expanded the town's walls to accomodate light cannons, which was all we had.

Between our soldiers and the Haven volunteers were Iron Bull's mercenaries, armed in classic Tevinter fashion. Each had a medium length sword, chain armor, a buckler, and a single javelin.

The mages and Templars were held back to support whatever positions got overwhelmed. With them was the golem, Shale. It hadn't really talked to me since Bethany had brought it back from Honnleath. Mostly the golem had spent its time wandering the area around Haven, apparently killing whatever birds it found. I still felt like I should remember something about it, but for the life of me could not figure out what. I was broken out of my thoughts as the first cannon shots rang out. I pulled out my spyglass and watched the impact in front of the advancing horde of darkspawn. The officers were already shouting to adjust the elevation of the guns, but it would be a few minutes before they could fire again. In response a series of fireballs were thrown at the wall by a figure at the head of the horde. A rebel mage naturally. The attacks never made it. Concerted power from the Templars disrupted the attack, and a moment later Idunna threw a lightning bolt back at the fireball's source.

Whoever it was batted the lightning away, where it hit a flesh golem and was promptly absorbed.

A moment later the cannons roared again. This time their shots impacted directly in front of the lines, the shots bouncing into the leading ranks of the darkspawn, tearing through dozens. Against a normal force the shots would have made them slow as they moved back into formation, but darkspawn don't think like people, and there was barely any slowdown. Even those who had lost an arm were quickly up and moving forward again. Those who couldn't stand were trampled by those around them in the march forward.

The leading portion of the horde reached the frozen river and began across. As they neared the center I glanced at Idunna, but she was already giving orders. The Templars focused their powers in front of the mages, directing and focusing the magical energy the mages had begun to utilize. This was, from Idunna's description at least, essentially the same thing that had been done to the Rift, only on a much larger scale. The results bore fruit shortly as the mages unleased a wave of fire magic that hit the Templars own efforts and began to focus. Soon instead of a wave of flames from a dozen mages there was a single beam of fire concentrated down on the horde. The beam swept through the front ranks, widening a bit before impact to catch multiple darkspawn with each pass. That wasn't the goal though. Instead the frozen river, already weakened by the collapsing bridge, gave way. As it did so the beam was swept back, and as it did so more and more of the ice melted or gave way under the advancing army. Darkspawn, flesh golems, and even a few mages were caught in the subsequent destruction. I don't know how many fell through, but it must have been at least two hundred. Each one, weighed down by armor or robes sank beneath the water. Some might have been able to struggle back up, but before they could a figure landed in front of the army, and swept its hand across the river. Immediately the ice reformed, sealing whatever had fallen into the water underneath. A moment later the mage sent a magical pulse back down the energy we had erected, and its impact killed six our mages and two Templars. Immediately the focus that kept the beam intact was gone, and it would have taken too much time to rebuild. Time we didn't have.

The darkspawn had advanced across the river again, and with nothing to stop them were up its banks in a matter of minutes. Another volley from the cannons tried to slow them, but as the last shot died the officers shouted orders to switch to grapeshot. As they did so the muskets began to fire. The leading ranks of darkspawn fell, but there were simply too many and as the guns were reloaded they charged. As the first ranks began to reach the walls the cannons roared for a final time, the shots devastating the creatures immediately before the walls. Another volley of musket fire down still more, but it wasn't enough, and soon the first darkspawn had gained the wall.

* * *

 **Guest12:**

 **3\. This was actually a different reason than what normally happens. It will be explored more later. For now let's just say, a certain event in the last story is...remembered in the Fade.**

 **4\. Bethany was rather bored following Act II of the last story, and its been about four years since she officially joined the Fereldan Circle. In that time the events going on led to her being selected as a candidate for knight enchanter. Also, out of context for a second, I need someone who is capable of fighting the demons on a more even basis, especially as time goes on. Arcane Warriors are a seperate group, and while more powerful their training is also far more rigorous and more difficult to learn.**

 **5\. You are quite right, that was the original idea. I later changed my mind and retconned that. I should note this isn't the only person I eventually chose not to let die during the story. One of those incidentally was Hawke, who in the original outline of DAII was going to die alongside Merrill and Aveline when Kirkwall fell, and this would be the key event in the antagonism between Varric and Clark. One of my IRL readers said that made the story a bit too dark, and eventually I agreed and worked Hawke into events elsewhere.**

 **6\. Bethany is a bit more nuanced in her views (largely because her attitude is built on experience rather than blind hatred). While she does hate Qunari she is currently under the impression Iron Bull is a mercenary. She hates the actual philosophy more than the the kossith as a species. She will not be particularly pleased when the truth comes out. Also, well she's a professional at the moment, and so she's capable of setting aside her views (or at least pretending to) when its necessary.**

 **7\. Tying into the above, Leliana and Cassandra know he's a spy. Clark thinks he's probably a spy. Other than that no one knows.**

 **9\. I didn't say NO ONE was able to leave. Just that they weren't. There were specific instances where people were allowed out, usually under threat of horrible things happening if they didn't come back, or simple demonic minions disguised as people delivering taxes due.**

 **10\. Best thing is this ability is canon for knight enchanters.**

 **13\. Maybe not Alexius...**

 **14\. Its a reference to Isaac Asimov's The End of Eternity, possibly the greatest time travel story ever created. Leliana was told a modified version offscreen during one of the many, many, long watches during the first story.**

 **15\. Mostly he's going to be a bureaucrat, as that's what he's honestly best at. He's basically the place Cullen would have played in the game as commander of the Inquisition's troops.**

 **16\. Interesting idea...**

 **17\. Nope.**

 **18\. A few. Trespasser will occur in a heavily modified form, though it will start significantly later, and won't have the conflict wrapped up nearly as quickly. And as will become clear in about...oh I'd say sevenish chapters it will become clear that the original cause of the events of trespasser will be impossible. As for the others, I expect to work something of the Jaws of Haakon in, even if only as a reference between the events of Corypheus's defeat and the beginning of the Trespasser equivalent. As for the Descent...not exactly. There is no Legion of the Dead to investigate the Deep Roads...but some portions of it will come up in, I'd say about 30 years in universe.**


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter VI

As the hurlocks reached the wall Maxwell Trevelyan joined the defending Fereldans in hacking down the first darkspawn over the fence the Fereldans referred to as a wall. He shouldn't have been out here of course, Cassandra had ordered him to hang back with the Templars, but in the chaos of the preparations no one had bothered to check whether he was obeying. But so what? He had closed the Blight and was chosen by the Maker, and these creatures weren't going to stop his destiny. He cheered as the first hurlock fell before his sword, it was his first darkspawn kill of his life, and he quickly turned his attention on the next wave as more started over the wall.

* * *

The first wave of darkspawn was slaughtered before any of them could gain the wall, but before the second wave hit the wall a wave of arrows from the hurlocks still behind the front body of the attacking force came down. A few landed among the darkspawn trying to gain the wall, but most struck home amidst the defenders. Our troops were largely fine, the standard issue armor of the Fereldan army more than a match for the crude bows darkspawn employed. The Bull's Chargers, wearing mostly leather were not so fortunate. Nor were the Haven cultists who largely didn't wear armor, the last decade having taught them to focus more on speed and stealth than fighting "fairly".

Perhaps ten were struck by arrows and killed, with another dozen wounded. The gap was small, but wide enough for the enemy to exploit. In moments the darkspawn were on the wall and amidst the cultists and Chargers. With the enemy now beside them both forces had to divide their attention between keeping more darkspawn off the wall and killing those who had had clambered over. The distraction let still more darkspawn over, and all along the right and center of the wall defenders began to fall before the sheer numbers of the enemy. As it became clear the darkspawn would overrun them I gestured to a trumpeter beside me, and a moment later he let loose the first signal. Ten Templars raised their shields into position and marched to the right, while six arcane warriors advanced to the center.

It took less than a minute for them to arrive, but in that time Kolgrim's cultists had been pushed off of nearly ten feet of walls, and the Chargers had been pushed back from several feet as well, and darkspawn poured over by the dozens. As they came down to flank our defenders though the reinforcements slammed into them. The heavily armed and armored Templars drove the darkspawn back over the wall before moving to reinforce the cultists, and our arcane warriors did the same for the Chargers.

Even before they had finished the darkspawn however the monsters began to retreat, pulling back over the wall and away from it.

"That's not a good sign." I muttered.

"Why?" Cassandra asked from beside me, ready to move with the next group of Templars should more reinforcements be needed.

"Darkspawn don't fight like that." Leliana said from her other side. "They attack blindly. The only time I ever saw them retreat was when the archdemon was killed."

I nodded, "Which means something has overridden them, like at Amaranthine." The two looked at me blankly for a moment, then I remembered the Architect was not public knowledge.

Before they could question me further though it became clear why whatever was in charge of the darkspawn had made them retreat. "Dragon!" Someone from below shouted. From above came a horribly familiar screech, and I looked up into a nightmare reborn. I stared at the shape and said quietly, "no. No, not this." Not far away I could hear Leliana repeating some Andrastian prayer I'd heard her say during the Blight. The two of us were totally united in horror as the shape became clearer above us. An archdemon was descending down on the town.

In desperation Fereldan musketeers were trying to shoot upward, but against something that big their guns were useless, even assuming they could hit a moving target from that far away. In a near panic I made another gesture to the trumpeter, and he signaled a retreat. The Fereldan soldiers, long since drilled to understand the signals rapidly pulled off the wall, but were forced to leave their cannons behind. The Chargers, seeing their left flank retreating started to follow suit, but were less than three-quarters of the way off before the dragon hit. The familiar corrupted flame lanced out of the dragon's mouth, hitting near the center of where our soldiers had been. Then the fire raked forward, killing all of the Chargers who remained on the wall, and thirty of Kolgrim's cultists who hadn't even started to move. The dragon swept away unharmed. It left the wall totally shattered behind it.

Before the screams of the burning had faded the darkspawn were advancing again, and this time the flesh golems were leading them.

Words really can't describe just how horrific a flesh golem is. Creating a golem is terrifying enough, but to take piles of corpses and meld them into one giant mound of moving flesh, and these had naturally been encased in red lyrium, allowing the corrupting inflence of the Blight to further twist these...things. Each one was nearly ten feet tall, and had been twisted into four-legged monstrosities. In a normal battle dealing with them would have involved heavy use of artillery, but ours was ruined on the destroyed wall.

Instead I drew my own sword and called, "Forward." Our entire reserve force raised their weapons and advanced. The only ones left behind were the remaining mages, who had spells ready, but against red lyrium magic is not helpful. To one side I saw some of the cultists fleeing, but didn't pay them any further heed. The cultists might have been ferocious in fighting back against us, but standing against an archdemon isn't something anyone should have to face. A moment later we had joined the regrouping defenders and shortly after the flesh golems hit. The first one started to barrel through our lines when an arcane warrior brought his hammer down on its leading front leg. There was a sickening crunch, and the lyrium coating it gave way. He pulled back for another blow, and the flesh golem struck, slamming its head down to bash the mage. It never made it. Arcane warriors are surrounded by a veil of magical energy which shields them from harm. Unless of course the thing trying to penetrate has a protective coating of anti-magic.

I'm not entirely sure what happened, but a moment later they golem's head was just gone, as was the mage it had been trying to attack. The remnants of the golem's body swayed for a moment, then collapsed onto the darkspawn near it. There wasn't time to focus however as more hurlocks came at us.

After a few minutes I pulled back from the fighting to look at the surroundings, and saw a familiar flash from a flesh golem. I frowned, looked closer, and swore. The idiot hadn't paid attention.

* * *

Maxwell pulled himself up as the golem suddenly seemed to realize that weight on its side wasn't supposed to be there. Before it could start to try to throw him off though he raised his sword, pointed it down at the base of the neck, where he could just barely see the Harvester, and stabbed down. Unlike most weapons of the Free Marcher nobility this sword wasn't enchanged, and he had picked it for that specific reason. While he might not have been able to fight the rebels before he had paid very careful attention to the stories his family told, in particular about how dangerous bringing magical weapons into combat against red lyrium was.

The sword struck true, smashing through part of the armor, then he brought it down again, then again. As the third blow impacted the casing around the Harvester shattered, and he plunged the sword down into it. The golem thrased under the blow, then fell forward. As it did so Maxwell lost his grip and was thrown free. He impacted a few feet away, and was immediately hauled to his feet by an elf he recognized as Cammen. Dimly he could hear Clark shouting, "out of here..." before it was drowned off by another shriek from above.

Before Maxwell could figure out what was going on Cammen had shoved a gag in his mouth and was dragging him away from the battle, with the help of someone at Maxwell's feet.

* * *

As Cammen and one of his subordinates dragged the idiot away to be locked up for his own good the shriek came again over the sounds of battle, but this time the darkspawn weren't falling back. The three remaining flesh golems started out of the lines. One further golem had been cut off fromt the darkspawn surrounding it by the Chargers and been steadily chopped down by dozens of blows to its legs. Still, without a brief respite there was no way we could withstand another attack from the archdemon. I started back, to order the mages to try something on that...thing in the sky, but as I did so an answering challenge rose from one of the nearby mountains, then three more. Four dragons rose from the surrounding peaks, and began moving to intercept the archdemon.

It was forced to break of its attack to gain the altitude necessary to meet them, which gave us more time to kill as many darkspawn as possible. The first two dragons hit the archdemon at full speed, their teeth and claws ripping at its wings and throat, but the monster was simply so much bigger than them it barely matter. With a mighty blow it caught one of the dragons in its jaws and dove toward the ground, gripping its enemy in its front claws and releasing the bite. Somewhere among the ice there was the sound of an impact, then screeches of panic as the caught dragon was torn to shreds by the demon. As those shrieks died however the remaining three drove down on it, the location only visible because of the first they were breathing down onto the archdemon.

The battle of the dragons continued far off to the horizon, and bereft of the tool of victory the flesh golems advanced again, barreling into the ranks of the Haven cultists, something driving them to attempt to smash that flank over a general attack that had been tried before.

At a short trumpet blow a section of the Fereldan army disengaged from the darkspawn and whirled to reinforce the right flank. As they did so the remaining arcane warriors moved to take the place of the departing soldiers. Cassandra and I joined them, alongside Bethany and we began to pushed the darkspawn back toward the ruined wall. Our advance succeeded, and nearly eighty darkspawn were pinned to the wall, unable to withdraw without being killed by our troops. Instead they were forced closer and closer together by Fereldan infantry, until finally there was simply no room for the hurlocks to even raise their arms to fight. From there they were slaughtered.

I pulled back from killing a hurlock as the last one fell to look over the rest of the battle. Kolgrim was shouting in bloodlust as he smashed his ax down again and again on the red lyrium golm trying to stand again, and as he gave a very good impression of a dragon bellow I had a very disturbing thought about where those other dragons had come from. In the center the Chargers were holding steady, but as they faced the majority of the remaining darkspawn there was simply no way for them to replicate the success of our flank.

That was fine though. With a quick order our troops repeated a very practiced move, seperating into two groups and moving inward. first group faced outward, toward the remaining enemy forces, ready to hold back any creatures that tried to reinforce their brethren in the center. The other side began to encircle the two hundred darkspawn waiting there. Cut off on three sides the hurlocks rapidly fell, though those on the outside successfully fought to keep the loop from closing again. The last flesh golem fell to combined blows from cultists, and a small cheer went up from the assembled troops at its death. All told six flesh golems had killed nearly eighty of our soldiers before being destroyed, and if the enemy had had time to gather more they would have been enough of a threat alone. But none of that was known then, and the cheers were doubled as the hurlocks began to retreat again, though in remarkably good order for those creatures.

The relief turned to horror however as I heard Idunna screaming from behind us.

* * *

After what seemed to Maxwell like forever he spat the gag out and demanded, "Let me go. Do you hear me?"

Cammen didn't answer. In disgust Maxwell looked down at the other soldier helping drag him and said, "I am the Chosen of the Maker, do you hear me. I am the Herald of Andraste, chosen to save the..."

"You are nothing," said a voice from slightly above the trio.

In an instant Cammen had let go of Maxwell and whirled his gun to the sky, only to suddenly freeze, then he was thrown aside. The other man gurgled for a moment, then was thrown aside as well. He impacted on a nearby building,and there was a crack as his neck broke. Maxwell pulled himself up and looked at whatever was in the sky. It was very similiar to the darkspawn he'd been fighting earlier, but somehow even more horrifying. Where the darkspawn looked like corpses brought to life and given new flesh this...thing looked like a human who had been halfway through the process before stopping.

The creature began to descend, and Maxwell grabbed the sword from the fallen Fereldan. The figure landed, and Maxwell charged. The figure laughed, raised on hand, and began to gesture, but before it could finish Maxwell had brought the sword up, and severed the things fingers. The thing darted back with inhuman speed, magic emanating as it did so. This time its blood magic caught Maxwell and held him still. After a moment he felt his hand coming up, despite Maxwell's best effort to keep it down. The creature looked down on it and said, "You were not chosen. Not by your Maker or his whore. You were an accident. I was at the moment of my greatest triumph. I am Corypheus, and I am the last Magister."

Maxwell blinked, wondering if that was supposed to mean anything. Fortunately this Corypheus was a bit of an egotist, so it continued, "I once ripped open the world and I took the Golden City for my own, and when I got there do you know what I found? NOTHING. You worship a god who doesn't exist. And when I came back I was disfigured, and the Gods of my youth turned on us. But I survived. While the others abandoned their goals to become mindless creatures of horror I endured. I would rip open the world again, but this time I would sit upon the throne of the world, as its one and only rightful god." It paused, then glared down at Maxwell and said in disgust, "But you took that from me. I needed only the blood sacrifices to grant myself the power of god, and I had them. Your divine, and all of her clerics. Sacrificed to fulfill the destiny of Tevinter. But you and your little posse interrupted, and my triumph was snatched away. Instead of gaining the power over the world for myself you stole it. And now you call yourself the Chosen of the Maker because I was unlucky."

It lowered its good and hand Maxwell felt himself sinking to his knees. In triumph the monster said, "And now I will kill you, and your body will serve. The Anchor does not require a living host. And before me you are nothing."

It started to close its hand into a fist, and as it did so Maxwell felt his throat begin to tighten. Then from behind the creature a woman said, "Interesting story monster. But you are nothing but another darkspawn to be put down."

Corypheus stopped exerting his power and turned. Behind him stood Idunna, in her silverite lined armored robe. She was still pale, but stood defiant.

As Corypheus looked at her it began to laugh. "One of the puny Wardens seeks to challenge a magister?" It said finally. "And I can sense the sickness I awoke in your order even now. I was able to bring you to your knees from afar, and you seek to challenge me."

Idunna raised one hand, and a moment later a lightning bolt arced from it into Corypheus. It had obviously been expecting the attack however, and effortlessly deflected it away, then flew forward quickly. Idunna rolled to one side, blasting a wave of ice behind her as she did so. A moment later it became clear why as Corypheus hit the spot she had been standing, and the sharp frozen droplets she had left behind began tearing into its flesh. Black blood began to dot the snow, and the darkspawn cursed at her, only to bring up its power to shield itself from another lightning bolt. It raised on hand, and fire began to form around Idunna. The woman didn't even slow, she slowly twirled her staff, manipulating the temperature around her, dispersing the flames before they could fully form.

Before the creature could start to move again Idunna darted forward, stabbing her staff forward, forming a cone of ice in front of it. It stabbed where the darkspawn was, but the creature was already flashing away, straight onto the waiting sword of Maxwell Trevelyan. He drove the blade into what he thought was the creature's heart, then ripped the blade free as the creature sagged.

He glanced at Idunna who was smiling a little, then the creature began to laugh. As it did so it began to crumble away. There was a sudden sound of rushing air, but no apparent effect. "Come on," Idunna ordered after a few moments. "We need to get..." then she froze. Maxwell glanced over at her again, starting to make a comment about her when he saw her face. It was completely white, more drained than anyone he'd ever seen. She shuddered and fell to her knees, then looked at him and whispered, "Run."

He wasn't sure why but he didn't argue. Behind him Idunna began to scream.

* * *

It didn't take long to find her. There was the sign of magical combat, but no opponent. To one side Cammen was picking himself up, and clearly trying to retreat. Idunna herself was surrounded in a circle of red and black energy, and her body was contorting as she screamed. Then it was suddenly silenced as her mouth disappeared. Then she began to grow taller, sort of. She didn't so much grow as lengthen, her proportions twisted as she did, and a new face began to emerge.

Beside me Bethany gasped as it took shape and said, "its him. Corypheus."

Without a second thought I drew a pistol, cocked it, and fire. Bethany launched a fireball, and a moment later Leliana loosed an arrow. Naturally those were all useless. Leliana's arrow was obliterated by the magical energy surrounding where Idunna had been, and I suppose the bullet was as well. Bethany's fire was simply absorbed into the field and for a moment a spectacular orange flame illuminated it, but that was soon swallowed by the still intensely strengthening magic.

"I think we should get out of here," Leliana said quietly. I nodded and we started to withdraw.

As we did so there came a roar from somewhere overhead and a moment later the archdemon was plummeting toward us, a smaller dragon clutched in its mouth. It threw the carcass aside, and began circling. That was the last straw and we began to run. Our troops were in the process of withdrawing toward the Chantry when we got back to them. There was one bit of good news though, whatever force held the darkspawn in place was broken and they were attempting to slaughter their mage "comrades."

That wouldn't last though, and we all knew it, so as the soldiers began to fortify the Chantry Leliana pulled Cassandra and myself inside for a quick meeting. As we entered Maxwell Trevelyan was sitting to one side, staring at the floor. I was half-tempted to shout at him for his idiocy, but decided against it. There would be better times after all.

Instead Leliana broke the silence, "Options?" She asked.

"Withdraw," Cassandra said immediately, "We can't win, and the enemy is disorganized enough we might be able to make it."

"And go where?" I asked flatly. "There is no way to escape this valley that I know of, and even if there was we couldn't possibly move fast enough to escape the enemy. Not with an archdemon on their side."

"Could we maybe cause an avalanche?" Leliana asked. "If we were prepared and the enemy wasn't it might be enough to bury them and let us escape."

I shook my head. "We don't have the supplies. Even if artillery could reach that high, and it can't, we lost ours. We don't have time to set explosives."

We were silent, then Leliana said, "That beam the mages used. Could it be...less focused?"

"You mean wider?" I asked. Then I thought about it. The theory, as Bethany had explained it, was that the Templars manipulated the magical energies produced by the lyrium they and the mages used to force the magic down a steadily narrowing arc, until finally it was only a few inches thick. If I understood it correctly the magic could be expaned, say across an area the size of a mountain. It wouldn't be much in the end, but we didn't need much. The mountains around Haven were not exactly stable (or whatever causes avalanches not to happen) given the centuries of dragons being raised here. Which meant... "Maybe," I said. I'll talk to the mages who are left about it, but that does leave the minor problem of actually leaving."

"I'll talk to Kolgrim," Cassandra volunteered. "If his cult has switched allegiance to the Herald maybe he'll know a secret way out of this place."

* * *

It didn't take long to explain the idea to the remaining mages, which they quickly grabbed and ran with. Soon they weren't planning on hitting one mountain, they were hitting all of them. One of them, named Eadric I think, suggested that the residual energy of the Veil should, in theory, allow them to amplify their power as it was divided, meaning each mountain could be hit with just the right amount of force to cause them to bury the town. Each mountain except one I very specifically ordered avoided. The whole process, from my perspective anyway, took about a minute. Then the mages settled down to the task of actually doing it. I got back to the Chantry as Cassandra did, and she was smiling a bit.

"Successful then," Leliana asked as we both came in.

Cassandra nodded, "Kolgrim knows an old path behind the Chantry that leads out of the Valley, it goes up onto one of the mountains, I don't know why." I was fairly certain I did, and Leliana had a look that said so was she, but neither of us commented.

Instead I finally said, "Then get the idiot and get out. If you can get to Redcliffe, even if the enemy survives to follow his army can't make it past the city."

"And what about the rest of you?" Leliana asked.

I sighed, "Much as I hate to admit it saving the power to close the Rifts is what matters. We'll hold here as long as we can and bring the mountains down around us. There are still a couple of ways to survive the ice coming down. We'll meet you if we can."

She nodded a bit sadly, probably sure no one was going to get out. "Then good luck."

* * *

There were less than one hundred soldiers left. Sixty Fereldans, twenty-five Chargers, and fifteen Haven militia, including Kolgrim and three of his surviving guards. Leliana and Cassandra had taken Shale, Varric, Solas, Fisher, Cammen, and the other four surviving werewolves with her out of the city, as they were the ones most likely to survive a trip to Redcliffe with her now. Behind our main line were the remaining six mages, including Bethany, who were preparing out last ditch effort. And to our front was a wave of darkspawn, and now undead. We were arrayed in front of the Chantry, with no way to get behind or flank us, and each one of us had a shield. A small barricade had been erected and a a mound of Earth was behind it to give out soldiers a slightly better position, but it was unlikely to matter in the long-run. The darkspawn hit us again rapidly, and from all three open sides. There were no theatrics, no tactical genius, not even a last ditch rescue. We simply held position and slaughtered them. I barely even paid attention after a while. It was simply a routine, lift sword, stab forward, pull back, repeat.

Around me men began to scream as they were simply dragged from the line and ripped to pieces, or cut down by a lucky blow from one of the enemy. But they just kept coming.

And suddenly the reverie was broken as the Havenites simply disintegrated. Kolgrim had been torn from the lines, and even as he sunk deeper into whatever mad power drove him the darkspawn simply kept attacking, until finally his arms were to tired to raise his ax anymore and he was cut apart by darkspawn swords. Their leader dead and having taken enormous casualties the militia simply couldn't hold anymore and they tried to escape through some imagined break in the darkspawn ranks. None of them made it. Unfortunately that left our entire right simply gone. Quickly I pulled back from the line, hoping someone would be able to take my spot and directed six Fereldans to cover the gap. They were good soldiers and followed my orders to the letter. And they died. More and more of them died, until finally, after what seemed like an eternity there was a flash and a beam lanced up from our mages into the sky. It hit the exact spot where the Rift had been at its strongest, and shattered. The lingering power of the Rift imbued the beam with even more energy, and it began impacting on the mountains.

I am not a geologist. I really have no idea what causes avalanches, but it became very apparent that we could add this to the list of causes. The beam lasted only a moment, but it was enough and soon the ice was rushing down the mountain. Our forces, such as they were began pulling back toward the Chantry, as ordered, and miraculously the darkspawn broke and fled. I'd only seen that happen once before, when the Fifth Archdemon was killed, so maybe this new one had been as well.

That hope was quickly quashed as it roared from somewhere to the north, but the cry was receding. Whatever power was driving the darkspawn had abandoned them, and the mages, to their deaths. The respite was enough and we were soon inside the Chantry, and I was sprinting toward the back, where the precious tunnel waited. This was another of ours, and it had already been unlocked. I didn't even bother to climb the ladder, simply dropping down and turning to help Bethany up when she followed. As I had ordered the others I did not wait to see if anyone else made it. The tunnel was too narrow for us to cause a traffic jam now.

I ignored the actual main tunnel and started into one of the side passages, the clear noise of more and more people behind me. No until I was fairly sure we were halfway through did I slow to catch my breath, and behind me I heard what sounded like the tunnel entrance collapsing. We kept going, in the dark, until finally there was a hint of breeze to my left. It wasn't much, but this tunnel had been designed to have more than one entry point. Ahead of us loomed the mountain on which the real Urn was held. As we emerged into the night air I could just see enough to make out the ruin of Haven below us. None of the buildings were still standing, only one Chantry wall still stood to prove a town had once been there at all. There was also no sign of any enemy survivors.

Of our own forces there were twenty-seven still alive. Twenty Fereldans and seven Chargers. I sighed as I looked farther up the valley, there was a small glow a long ways off, almost certainly one of Fisher's soldiers sending a signal to show where they were. It was going to be a long walk.

* * *

A/N: In case it isn't obvious, the mutated flesh golems are similiar to the DA:I genlocks. For the purposes of this story I will be keeping Genlocks as they were in origins, if they appear again which I'm not sure of.

To guest 12: You forget, Cullen's dead. Along with every other Templar in the Free Marches. And Antiva.

4\. Fisher is a reference to another work of fiction, one who was a captain. In universe, due to the small scale tactics used by the werewolves they tend to be a bit looser on rank than the rest of the military. He effectively holds the rank of colonel, but only holds the actual rank of captain. This starts a precedent where no werewolf will ever be promoted higher. They eventually invent new ranks between Lietenant and Captain to make up for that. (Just a note, he was originally going to be a nod to Commander Shepard, since that was his pre-Blight job, but I decided that was a little too blatant even for me).

7\. See what I did where...? Oh, umm...sure that was totally intentional.


	8. Chapter 7

_Taken from:_ _ **History of the Dragon Cults, Volume III: The Rebellion of 9.72-9.80:**_

 _...It was hoped that the destruction of Haven during the final stage of the Fade War would also bring about the end of the Dragon Cults in Fereldan. Unfortunately the escape of most of the civilian population in the confusion of the battle rendered this impossible. Instead the escaped women and children would go on to form a new cult in the areas immediately surrounding Haven, and in the 30 years which followed their numbers were steadily reabuilt..._

 _The opening of the new rebellions was the largest attack on a Fereldan garrison since the Qunari Invasion of 9.51..._

Chapter VII

It took over two hours to reach Leliana's small camp. The avalanche had virtually annihilated the valley, and with it every easy path out. We really should have seen that coming, but as usual it had been overlooked.

The mood was dark, with most of the surviving soldiers sitting around silent, obviously brooding about our quite total and spectacular defeat. The Fereldan army had gone from victory to victory for 40 years, from the revolt against Orlais. Sure there had been Ostagar, but that could be explained away by treachery. This was the first time we had really been beaten.

That was bad. Really bad.

Apparently thinking along the same lines Leliana motioned me to follow her a short distance away and when we were well out of earshot she asked, "ideas?"

"For?" I asked.

She sighed, "To get their morale back up. We're going to be walking back to Redcliffe, and it will take weeks, assuming there isn't another army coming."

I shrugged, "Not really. I'm not really the one for giving rousing speeches, that's what we trained Alistair for, and Aedan is such a natural at. I don't think either of us could do it anyway. We were the ones in charge, so anything we say is going to be ignored."

We both thought, and realized the only alternative at the same time. "Shit..." we both said at the same time. She said, "We're going to have to get Trevelyan to do it aren't we."

I nodded, "Yeah...unfortunately I think he's probably the only one who could say something and have it mean something. The soldiers still think he's still some kind of chosen after all."

"He might be," Leliana pointed out, but she didn't press the point when she saw my expression.

"Where is he?" I asked finally.

"In the tent." She answered. "Once we got out he didn't seem to want to talk about what happened. I don't know why."

I nodded, "Let's go talk to him then."

* * *

As Leliana had said Trevelyan was sitting alone inside the one tent that Leliana's group had managed to take. Not much, but still better than what we'd managed to get out. It was going to be a cold trip. He didn't even look up when the two of us crawled in.

Leliana gently said, "Maxwell, we need to talk to you." No response. Again she said, a little less gently, "Maxwell, can you hear me." Again, no answer. This time she said in her absolute sweetet voice, which generally meant she was about to knife someone, "We need to talk to you." Again no response.

She glanced at me, and actually seemed a bit worried. Finally she asked, with actual concern this time, "What's wrong?"

This time Trevlyan actually did answer, and when he looked up he had obviously been crying. "That...thing that attacked, it told me how I got the mark. It was supposed to be him, a side affect of opening the Rift originally."

"...so?" I asked blankly.

Leliana elbowed me and said, "What do you mean?"

"The magic that opened the Rift was supposed to give him the ability to control it." Trevelyan said miserably. "I was just some stupid kid who got in the way. I wasn't chosen, Andraste didn't ask the Maker to spare me and give me the power to save the world. It was nothing but a stupid accident."

Oh...shit. We didn't need an existendtial crisis. I turned to Leliana and whispered, "Make sure no one is close enough to hear." She nodded and ducked out the tent. I took a deep breath, and after Leliana gave me the all clear I grabbed Trevelyan by his shirt and dragged him so he was just a couple inches away from me.

Then I hissed, "So what, now you think you aren't special. Well guess what, you aren't. You never were. But you know who doesn't know that? The people out there, the ones who still believe you were chosen. So you are going to wipe your eyes, crush your sadness, then you are going to go out there and lie. You're going to tell them that you are still the Herald of Andraste, and you will explain that this was actually a victory, with our sacrifice necessary to stop Corypheus's plan. And do you know why you're going to do it?" Trevelyan started to answer and I said, "No talking. Either nod or shake your head."

He hook his head slowly and I whispered, "Because if you don't then every single one of us is going to die. They have to think there's a chance of us making it out of here or we won't. And if we don't then Corypheus wins, and the world ends. Get it." He didn't answer, so I finished, "And because if you don't then I'm going to kill you, right now, and I'll tell them you succumbed to horrible wounds taken driving the enemy away. Because maybe I can get them to want to make it out through sheer hatred for the enemy. Do you understand now?"

He nodded a bit slowly. I let him go and said, "Then do it." He slowly wiped his eyes, steeled himself and exited the tent.

I didn't follow him, or even listen to what he ended up saying. But a few minutes the people outside were singing some hymn to their Maker. Finally though I vaguely heard the tent flap open and I glanced up to see Leliana and Bethany entering.

"What did you say?" Leliana asked.

I shrugged, "Things I really didn't want to. He's an idiot, not evil. What happened?"

Bethany said, "He came out and gave a speech congratulating everyone for beating back the original darkspawn, praised them all in the name of the Maker, and then led a song."

I looked into the side of the tent and said, "It didn't used to be like this you know. Back during the Blight. I didn't have to threaten people to save more."

"We had Alistair for that," Leliana pointed out.

I waved that off, "But it wasn't the same." We could save everyone and still win. Where did we go wrong."

Leliana didn't have anything to say to that at first, but we both knew it had been sometime when we had tried to stop Kirkwall from going so wrong. Finally she said, "I think maybe we got so caught up in the bigger picture that we didn't see the people involved."

I glanced at Bethany, but she didn't say anything. I sighed, "I'm going to sleep. We'll try to find a path out of the valley in the morning. Then its a long walk." Leliana nodded and ducked out, presumably to join in the singing.

Bethany nuzzled up against me and said, "We'll get through this."

I looked down at her and said, "I hope so..."

"William," She said finally, "I just have one question about everything that's happened."

"Yes dear?" I asked.

"Where did all the people who lived in Haven go?"

I blinked at the question, then started mentally counting, and realized...I had no idea. They hadn't escaped, but surely they hadn't all been buried. Either way, Alistair was not going to be happy when he could think clearly enough to consider the options.

* * *

"You know," Bethany complained, "Since I married you there seems to be an inordinate amount of almost starving happening."

I groaned. "I get it dear. We didn't bring enough food. There wasn't much time to grab extra supplies if you'll recall. Besides, you almost starved at least once before we were married."

For some reason that did no make her any happier.

I couldn't really blame her of course. Our attempt to make it back to Redcliffe was not working out great. Most of the passes had become impassable since our last messengers had gone through, which may have been Corypheus's fault come to think of it. We were basically out of food, again. The surviving werewolves were good hunters thankfully, so they could bring in enough food that no one starved, but an all-meat diet is a pretty miserable thing. It didn't help that we couldn't cook it properly, so half of the meat would be burned, and the other half raw.

Or to put it another way, I hate the Great Outdoors. And being in the Great Outdoors during a Fereldan winter sucks.

* * *

Maxwell Trevelyan followed Solas as the latter started up one of the side passages and gestured for him to come. Solas talked a while about things Trevelyan didn't quite understand, until finally showing him a castle, long forgotten in the surrounding area, but one where the group might take shelter until winter was over, in about a month.

The news was, quite naturally more than welcome to the weary group of travelers. Even Clark and Leliana were happy enough not to be too suspicious of Solas's discovery.

The castle was magnificent in Trevelyan's view. It was built off the mountain, and could only be reached through a single bridge. Otherwise it was completely unreachable. He could only dream about what a siege of the place would be like.

* * *

The castle was a nightmare. There was only one entrance. Which meant an enemy force wouldn't even need to lay siege, smash the bridge and leave a small force to make sure repairs wouldn't be possible. Then laugh as all the defenders starved. What possessed whatever built this place?

Apparently the fortress was called Skyhold, according to Solas anyway. According to him it had been hidden in the Frostbacks for many years, and was a very old fortress. That was believeable at least. Calling the place a wreck would have been generous. In the main hall the ceiling was caving in, most of the stairwells were blocked by debris, doors were rotten, and the walls were crumbling. The only positives were that it was mostly warm, once some of the walls had been patched up especially, and the surrounding area had at least a decent number of edible plants. We stayed in the castle for a month, waiting for the snows to clear enough for scouts from Redcliffe to be spotted moving through the area.

I don't remember how many of the old songs from home I had to sit down with Leliana to recreate so that there would be some entertainment. Johnny Comes Marching Home Again, Amazing Grace, Holy Night, Battle Hymn of the Republic, and a dozen more at least. With Varric's help we recreated the Lord of the Rings, the Once and Future King, and even parts of the Bible (with Leliana changing names as necessary to fit with Andrastianism).

In total it was nearly two months after Haven before we reached Redcliffe, and were immediately summoned back to Denerim.

* * *

Trevelyan sat up in his saddle as the city of Denerim came into view. He asked, a bit excitedly, "What's the city like?"

Leliana considered the question before saying, "Denerim is a lot cleaner than Redcliffe, it doesn't have the gunsmiths or powdermakers, and has nearly the same population it had right after the Blight." She paused before clarifying, "That still means its about a tenth larger than it was a decade ago. Redcliffe is twice the size it was before though. The Fereldan government is the biggest employer in the city, and the Chantry there is magnificent. The Redcliffe Chantry will be grander when it is finished, but that will take years. Its also a lot brighter and happier than across the Amaranthine Sea, especially now. The war hasn't really come to Fereldan yet, and sometimes the people here don't even quite see it as real."

She talked a bit more about the city's history as the group drew nearer, and Trevelyan listened intently. This had been the spot where the Blight was stopped cold after all. The Battle of Denerim was a legend among his friends growing up, though he already knew parts of the story weren't ture. The Fereldans hadn't fought inside the city, and Alistair had not killed the Archdemon in single combat atop Fort Drakon. Still, visiting Denerim was something he'd wanted to do for years.

As they entered the city the first thing he noticed were the elves. Unlike in the cities of the Free Marches the elves here moved around freely and, while clearly not equal to the humans or dwarves in the marketplace, were still treated relatively well. He commented on that to Leliana who nodded, "Quite. It wasn't long ago Fereldan was like that, but things changed after the Blight. The government went out of its way to publicize the contributions of the Dalish to the cause, some of their claims were quite false in fact. And Alistair took a dim view of people violating the new laws he passed protecting elven rights. There are movements across the kingdom to overturn those laws, but I think most people have come to accept elves." She paused, then corrected, "Fereldan elves at least."

The group made its way through the city without being challenged. The Clarks were at the head, the banner of the teyrn, a gold P and X combined into one symbol on a red background, being flown by a soldier riding behind them. After at least an hour however they arrived in front of the palace, and were immediately waved inside by a guard. As they entered Clark pulled a guard aside, and spoke to him quickly in whispers. As they finsihed he motioned Leliana over, and the two talked very quickly. Finally Leliana returned and said, "The king will not be able to see us today. He is meeting with the Arlessa of Amaranthine, and the appointment is supposed to last the remainder of the afternoon. The Arl of Redcliffe has graciously loaned us his home in the city to stay at while we are in Denerim however. I'm sure we can get someone to show the way."

She glanced back at Clark who was still talking to the guard before showing the rest of the party out.

* * *

I watched out of the corner of my eye as Leliana took the rest of our little band out of the castle, and as soon as they were gone said louder, "I'm going up to talk to the king. Let the word get out that we aren't letting anyone else in today. Understand?"

The guard nodded immediately, "Of course your grace."

I didn't bother to check to make sure he obeyd instructions. All the guards of the Denerim Palace had been hand selected after the king's illness started. They were the absolute best, and were paid to match.

Instead I kissed Bethany, who had waited after the rest had gone, on the cheek and said, "Dear, how about you go check on your mother. I'll try to be out before dinner."

She smiled and nodded, then said, "Give Alistair my best," before leaving.

Alistair's personal rooms took up about a quarter of the total palace, even though he never used more than one or two of them. The rest were typically used by Goldanna's family when they were in the city, or occassionally by people we would rather no one knew were in the city.

If it had been up to me Solona would have been one of them, and she would never have left. After her ministrations Alistair could be expected to be clear-headed for a few days at least.

As I reached the door to the room I knew Alistair would be in I steeled myself, took a breath, and knocked. There wasn't an answer, but there wasn't supposed to be. I waited another moment, then pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Alistair was inside with Solona standing over him. Her hand was bloody and she was panting from the effort of the magic she was performing. Alistair for his part was barely conscious. I nodded to Solona who returned the gesture, but was too focused on her work to talk. I settled down and pulled out the chapters of _The Lost Chantry_ Varric had been working on. It was quite good overall, a retelling of the Story of King Arthur with an Andrastian background. If I understood what the dwarf said about the background it seemed he was borrowing quite heavily from multiple other myths as well, with Flemeth as the overarching villain in the background opposed by the wizard Merlin.

I waited for about an hour before finally Solona said, "Done." She immediately walked over to the bench I was sitting on, and almost fell onto it. She settled her head onto my shoulder, and was immediately asleep. A few minutes later Alistair roused himself, and settled down on another chair in the room.

Finally he managed to say, "Careful Bethany doesn't see the two of you like that."

I snorted, "You're one to talk. What would Shianni say if she knew about these sessions."

Alistair managed a weak laugh, then said, "So what happened? I gathered from Conner's message that there had been a battle at Haven, but he didn't want to give any details."

I sighed, and started to explain everything that had happened.

Alistair listened patiently, and after I was finished said, "And you think this darkspawn is what's responsible for...well..."

"Yes," I answered. "It makes sense. According to Avernus the Calling is what draws both Darkspawn and Grey Wardens to the Old Gods, so it has to be linked to the Blight. If this Darkspawn is one of the original Magisters then he might be able to tap into that same song."

Alistair nodded again, "Still...you say Bethany thought that her brother had killed it?"

"So did Varric," I noted. "Both of them insisted Corypheus was dead, but if what Trevelyan said is true, then he can possess Wardens, just like..."

"The archdemon," Alistair said with distaste. Then he said, "No its worse. When the archdemon is killed its soul and the Warden's destroy each other. This one though actually just dominates the Warden. That's a problem."

"So in other words we're probably going to..." I said slowly.

"Find Morrigan," he finished. "She was the only one who really understood what was going on with the soul business. Even Avernus had no idea about it. And we have no leads whatsoever. Any insights?" He occasionally asked that question, but there simply were no answers anymore.

I shook my head, "No. What I knew of the future ended years ago. Everything since Kirkwall has been completelyl uncharted territory, and we were basically there by the Qunari incident."

We considered a bit more, but there simply seemed to be no solution to the problem. Finally Alistair said, "I think I'll be well enough to put in an appearance tomorrow. Aedan is holding a council of war to decide how we'll strike at the rebels, and I want to be there."

"Are you sure?" I asked quickly. "You know what happened last time."

Alistair nodded. "I have to. Even if I don't make it to any others I need to be there for the first meeting."

* * *

Trevelyan was silent, as Leliana had ordered as she led the way into one of the rooms of the palace. Along the wall was a giant map of Thedas. Across Fereldan were scattered blue marks. Across the Amaranthine Sea there were red markers all across the Free Marches, and covering about half of Antiva. Green Marks covered Nevarra, the other half of Antiva, and were overlapping near Selenay. In Orlais gold markers surrounded Val Royeaux, and the easternmost half of the Empire, while white markers were scattered across the other half. Again here there was overlap along the Narashan River, north of Val Foret.

William Clark was already there, as was a red-haired woman he assumed was Arlessa Solona Amell, and a blond man he recognized as King Alistair. Also with them were two tall, brown-haired men Trevelyan didn't recognize. Around the room were a few other men he guessed were nobles or military commanders, and in the center was a table with a map of the Free Marches spread across it. He started to ask Leliana some questions about the room, but a glance from her reminded him of the order to stay quiet.

Past her Cassandra was looking around the room as well and gave him a small smile, which he weakly returned. Behind Cassandra was Iron Bull, who had confirmed the rest of his mercenary group was intact, only a portion had stayed in Haven.

Finally one of the two men he had seen with the king stepped up and said, "Welcome to the First Council of War for the year. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Aedan Cousland, Supreme Commander of the Fereldan Army, Arl of Dragon's Peak, heir to the Teyrnir of Highever."

He walked up the large map, and grabbed a small rod of wood sitting next to it Trevelyan hadn't noticed. "We have our work cut our for us," Aedan announced. "The rebel mages have found their position more precarious with Nevarra's entry into the war, but they still hold the dominant position in Antiva. The Chantry offensive late last year managed to retake Selenay and relieve pressure of Antiva City for the moment." He gestured to the overlapping markers, which Trevelyan realized represented military positons as they were known to the Fereldans. "Given the situation in Orlais it is doubtful the Empress wil be able to direct any aid to the front, despite her repeated promises to do so."

No one apart from Trevelyan and Cassandra seemed surprised at that. The Seeker finally said, "How do you mean? I thought the rebellion was in hand?"

Cousland scowled at her, clearly not being used to being interrupted. "No, it isn't." He said shortly. Trevelyan caught a slight nod from Clark, and Aedan Cousland seemed to see it to because he elaborated, "The Imperial government says the rebellion is being handled, but they have lost repeated battles in the past several years. Val Foret fell near the end of last year, and despite an Imperial campaign to retake the city last month it remains in rebel hands. We expect them to be across the Narashan River inside of three weeks. The rebels currently hold several rich, and heavily populated areas of the Empire, and their current campaign looks to be an attempt to cut off Val Royeaux from the rest of the Empire. If Rosselin is half as good as he seems to be they will almost certainly succeed by the end of next year. The Empire is too divided, and the Empress too weak. You might note," he added a bit darkly, "All the glorious victories Imperial forces are winning seem to be closer and closer to the capital."

Cassandra didn't say anything, but the idea that the Imperial government might actually LOSE the civil war had clearly not occurred to her. To be honest it hadn't occurred to Trevelyan either.

He paid close attention to the remainder of Aedan Cousland's briefing. Apparently the Perivians were on the verge of overwhelming one of the Tevinter splinters in the north, the Qunari had finished crushing the last Tevinter outposts on the islands, and the Anderfels was seeing a war between a lord Rinci and the Duke Kassel. Trevelyan had never heard of either one, and from the looks on the faces of everyone else very few others had either.

Finally however Cousland reached the point everyone was there for.

He stepped up to the map, and with a flourish said, "And now we are going to strike at the rebel mages." He looked up to King Alistair who nodded for him to continue. "According to our information, the rebel mages hold over the Free Marches is extremely tenuous. They simply don't have the numbrs to garrison effectively. Virtually all of their power is aimed toward the North, leaving much of the southern sections of the Free Marches virtually undefended." He smiled, a little viciously and said, "We are going to exploit that little oversight. He lowered the rod to point at a city everyone in the room knew the name of very well, and he finished, "We're going to retake Kirkwall."

 **Note: The Narashan River referred to here has no official name so far as I am aware. If you look at the map of Thedas however there is a group of swamps with a similiar name. For the purposes of the story here I have appropriated it for the river. The river bifurcates (is that a word?), with one branch going past Val Foret, and the other going along the north. The northern branch is what I've referred to as the Narashan River. Also, I invented the Anderfels lords from scratch, as so far as I am aware there are no known canon names for lords in the Anderfels. Rinci is something I created whole cloth, and Kassel is named for the city the two are fighting over.**

 **Also, I know I kind of skated over the Skyhold section. Originally it was going to be longer, but as I worked on it I realized there just wasn't that much that happened that was important to the story. Since this isn't a game, and therefore needs no central hub to return to, the castle simply served no purpose long-term. It will be the headquarters of the Inquisition once that gets officially formed (later), but for now it wasn't anything more than a wintering point for a small group.**


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter VIII

Invading across the Waking Sea was not nearly as quick and easy as Maxwell Trevelyan had assumed he reflected as he was informed, yet again, that the invasion would come when it came. The Fereldans were stockpiling resources across the warehouses of Denerim's port. In the port itself a dozen warships were waiting, and dozens more merchant ships that had volunteered, that is to say, been forced, to ferry soldiers and supplies to Kirkwall.

The area in front of the city had become a hive of activity as thousands of Fereldan recruits drilled for the attack to come. He had watched with interest naturally, but personally wasn't sure why the Fereldans insisted on infantry so much. He was sure that a charge by a rank of Marcher cavalry would have rolled them over.

He'd seen cannons before, even before arriving in Fereldan. The Chantry armies had a small number of them, massive lumbering things produced in the forges of Nevarra after some dwarf had worked out how to copy the Fereldan powder. Chantry powder wasn't as powerful as Fereldan's though.

He'd never seen so many before however, and the Fereldans had several varieties. There were the standard guns he'd seen them used before, but they also had weapons with short barrels that were several times thicker, and and tilted at an odd angle. The Fereldans referred to them as mortors, but he couldn't see the point of the weapons.

Watching carefully a few hundred feet away was Iron Bull, and a number of the Chargers. Trevelyan thought for a moment, then joined them. Iron Bull spotted him, nodded, then said, "Magnificent aren't they?"

Trevelyan wasn't sure what to say, but finally said, "They're infantry."

Iron Bull snorted, "Properly trained and equipped infantry will destroy a cavalry force anyday." He didn't glance over, so didn't see the look on Trevelyan's face at that idea. "Qunari don't use cavalry," he said, almost to himself. "A fully armored warrior of the Beresaad is too heavy for even the largest warhorse to carry. And the terrain of the northern islands is terrible for horses."

"How are infantry supposed to stop a knights charge?" Trevelyan asked, still a bit dubious at the idea.

"Spears." Iron Bull said, sounding happy at the idea. "A soldier of the Beresaad can carry a pike twenty feet long, and brace it so the cavalry runs themselves onto it. And with our formations there can be three pikes in place before the cavalry could even reach the infantry."

There was a roar from the camp as thirty cannons fired together. Iron Bull's expression turned dark, and he said, "The Qun's had cannons for centuries now. We mount them on ships, and have enormous mountings for grounded guns. But this..." He sighed. "Those Fereldan guns have longer range than our largest models, and are less than half the size. I've seen them practicing loading and they use less powder for that range. And, just to top it all off the Fereldan gunners take three minutes less time to load them as well."

He shook his head in disgust, "And those infantry weapons. We've never even considered the use of miniature cannons as weapons. In ten years they moved from having no guns to better than ours. What happens in twenty years, or a hundred?"

Trevelyan had nothing to say, but one of the Chargers said, "The Qun will still crush them."

Iron Bull said nothing, but his eyes quite clearly demonstrated his doubt at the idea.

* * *

It took another weak before the Fereldans decided they were ready to move against Kirkwall. Trevelyan found himself on the largest of a ship called the _Enterprise_. As the assault grew closer he knew he should have been eager. These were the enemies of the Chantry, people who had burned their way across Antiva, and driven his thousands from the Free Marches. Yet something kept coming back to him, Corypheus's revelation.

Most of the Fereldans were still treating him as some sort of chosen one, It might have gotten worse after his speech after Haven, which he looked back on with regret. He'd only given it to stop Clark from shooting him. Without that threat, and out of immediate danger the realization that he was a nobody had sunk in again. He found himself retreating to the cabin he'd been granted, and didn't have to share.

One such morning while he was replaying Haven Leliana interrupted him. She was, he thought to himself, one of the people he least wanted to see. She and Clark were actual heroes. People who had faced down the most horrific evil in the world and had destroyed it. Being around them did nothing but remind him of his own lack of such qualities.

She didn't say anything at first, but after perhaps ten minutes finally said, "He's wrong you know." Trevelyan looked up, confusion evident on his face. Leliana saw the look and smiled, "Corypheus, and William to a lesser extent. William never thought you were anything special, that you had gotten your power by accident." She smiled a little, "Don't feel too bad about that, he was also one of the few who thought the idea of you assassinating the Conclave was absurd."

Trevelyan asked finally, "Why?" He hadn't realized just how much that doubt from one of them had hurt.

"William doesn't believe in the Maker," Leliana said. "Shocking I know, but he never has, and probably never will. He believes in a different god, but one I think is the same. But, in his religion there is the idea that God acts in subtle ways, unnoticed by all. Corypheus says you were nothing, just an accident of placement, but they are both wrong. You were the one in the right place at the right time. Maybe Andraste didn't swoop out of the Maker's presence to personally save you. Maybe the Maker didn't reach out personally and grant you the ability to close the rifts and save the world. But he didn't do that for us either.

"King Alistair started as no one." She continued. "He was slept in the stables most of his life, and trained to be a Templar before being conscripted. He was the youngest and greenest of the Fereldan Grey Wardens before Ostagar." She smiled as she thought back, "William didn't even know how to properly hold a sword at first. He had to have the basics beaten into him by Alistair so he wouldn't hurt himself. Solona betrayed and nearly destroyed the Circle. Alim was a coward who sold out his friend to save himself from punishment. I fled Orlais to avoid a traitor's death after being framed. Yet we were brought to the Ashes of Andraste herself, and I firmly believe that the Makers hand was in that." She set a hand on Trevelyan's shoulder and said, "Just because Corypheus didn't intend for you to have the Mark doesn't mean the Maker didn't. He works in ways more mysterious and deeper than any of us can comprehend. Don't lose site of that. You still closed the Rift, you still stopped the demons from having free entry into Thedas. You were still the one chosen to help save the world." She stood and looked him in the eye before finishing, "don't lost site of that."

She smiled and left.

Trevelyan sat for an hour thinking over what she had said, and finally rose to go up to the main deck. He wasn't sure if he agreed with her, but Leliana had an ability to set his mind and faith at ease, and he idly wondered how far that could stretch.

* * *

The Kirkwall Gallows rose in the distance, the mournful sight greeting the fleet. There was a massive gate erected across the entrance into the Kirkwall docks. None of the Fereldans seemed particularly worried at the idea. The transports had seperated from the main fleet the day before. Most of the army would be landing on the Wounded Coast, to move out and encircle the city. Most of the remaining soldiers, including the Bull's Chargers, would be tasked with capturing and holding the city gates while the main body of soldiers moved in. And a small party would be sneaking through Darktown into the old Hawke estate to attempt to seize the Keep before it could be sealed and held as a strong point that would have to be reduced by seige.

The few contacts Varric had left in the city assured him that Darktown was virtually unchanged, the new regime caring little about the area. Lowtown and Hightown however were patrolled constantly, by those under the sway of blood mages. Citizens were killed daily by their fellows to provide the blood required to keep the city under rebel sway.

At midnight the signal arrived, and the Fereldan Navy opened fire on the Gallows. Modified ships launched lyrium rockets over the Gallows into the city. Minutes later an orange glow began to spread in the distance as one of the rockets impacted something in Lowtown, and the city began to burn. Kirkwall wasn't as flammable as Val Royeaux, where the vast majority of buildings had been made of wood with straw and tar added for good measure. In Kirkwall stone was more common, but there was still plenty flammable.

It took over an hour for the barrage to collapse the gate across the harbot, but as it fell the remaining transports moved forward under the cover of the Fereldan guns. In the distance the roars of the guns of the main Fereldan army began to roar as well.

Kirkwall was far behind the front lines, and was relatively lightly defended. There was no artillery in the city, with even the outdated equipment of the rebel mages concentrated in Antiva along with the vast majority of their army.

The _Enterprise_ joined a small number of similiar Fereldan ships in moving into the harbot, and as the transports readied to disgorge their troops the Enterprise turned to present its side to the docks, where some defenders seemed to be massing. There was a massive roar as the ship let loose its broadside. A moment later the ships fellows joined. The docks were devastated. The defenders were virtually wiped out. Burning warehouses and other buildings collapsed, and in a spectacular blast one warehouse exploded, the lyrium stored inside cooking off. The blast leveled everything within a hundred feet, and threw shrapnel even farther. A piece of wood embedded itself in the side of the Enterprise just below where Trevelyan was watching. He didn't have time to dwell on that however as he heard one of the Fereldans shouting for the boats to be readied.

That was his cue, and he grabbed his shield and made for one of the boats. The small Fereldan boat pulled up to one of the intact docks and Trevelyan climbed out and onto the pier. Farther down a group of surving defenders charged. They had the normal mindless look of those under the control of blood magic, and he felt a twinge of guild as he joined Cassandra in meeting them.

It was barely a contest. Both were in full armor, and wielding their broadswords. The defenders wore only leather designed to stop or daggers.

He heard a roaring laugh from another dock, and glanced over for a moment to see Iron Bull hack a person almost in half. As the last of the defenders fell he heard Varric say, "We need to go right from here. There will be a tunnel down into Darktown."

Trevelyan obeyed, with Cassandra beside him. Others followed, and soon Varric took the lead.

* * *

"Come on," I ordered as the Bull's Chargers finally finished their mop-up of the defenders on our docks.

Beside me Bethany said, "Those are the main entrance to the docks. Its the only way into the main city. We need to secure it if we're going to take the gates."

Iron Bull nodded happily. "Consider he done," he said jovially. Then he raised his ax and began to move. The Chargers followed.

I glanced over at the transports which were emptying onto the docks. Hundreds of Fereldans were unloaded, though we unfortunately hadn't been able to bring any artillery into the city itself, and the ships couldn't stay.

Already the _Enterprise_ and others were pulling out of the harbor. Above us the rockets had stopped coming down, it was too dangerous to have them impacting while our attack was ongoing. It took far too long for all of our soldiers to be unloaded, but it couldn't be helped. We didn't bother to leave a force to hold the docks, if we couldn't bring the rest of the army in we were doomed anyway. Bethany led us through the city. It was a long, slow slog through the streets, with guards rushing to battle our troops. Poor bastards never stood a chance. The strength of the rebel mages had always been in the mages themselves, and the ranks of animated soldirs they could raise, not in those enslaved to fight for them.

We lost dozens, and more than once I was very happy we had brought Shale with us, as she made quick work of the three mages directing the defense we came across. However, in the end with the sun rising we took the main gate of the city, and threw it open. Our troops had moved out from that position to take the city walls facing our army, which began to advance. It would take a long time to bring in all our forces, but that was fine. The city was now as good as ours.

* * *

"This is it," Varric said, stopping in front of a passage that looked identical to a dozen others they had walked past.

"Are you sure?" Cassandra hissed. "We might only get one shot at this."

Varric scowled, "Of course I'm sure Seeker. I've used this passage before many times. Now come on."

He clambered up the ladder, and a moment later Trevelyan followed him. The passage stretched on for a long time, with Varric carefully leading them through a network underneath Hightown. He kept up a commentary the whole way, talking about the slaver networks which had operated for centuries, and even about his own escape from the city so many years before.

Eventually however he announced, "The mansion is right above us. We'll be within sprinting distance of the Keep."

"Good," Cassandra said. She turned to the people behind her and ordered, "Follow Varric's direction exactly. We need to be inside before the enemy realizes how close we are."

The soldiers all nodded their understanding. She turned back to the dwarf and said, "Go."

Varric pushed the door open, leveled his crossbow and stepped out.

The Hawke estate was deserted. There were signs of looting inside, most of the valuables had been stripped away, and the books had been stripped from the shelves, most likely burned in the immediate aftermath of the rebellion.

Varric looked disgusted as they moved to the front door. He pushed that open and carefully looked out. After a moment he ducked back inside and reported, "There's no one out there. They've probably been drawn to the others in Lowtown or the walls. We should have an easy time getting into the Keep. But be careful, the place is built to hold an army if necessary."

He pushed the door all the way open this time and led the way outside. He quickly outlined directions to the Keep, and drew back, letting Cassandra and Trevelyan take the lead. As the dwarf had reported the streets were deserted. Out of the corner of his eye Trevelyan could see scared faces looking out of windows, but they never lingered. It took a few minutes to reach the staircase leading to the Keep, and he froze at the platform erected in front of it. There was an altar erected on it, and the entire platform was stained with what looked very much like blood.

"A blood mage's work," Cassandra hissed, the fury evident in her voice. "If I find whoever's responsible for this I'll..." She trailed off, clearly not certain what would be terrible enough.

"Give them to the Fereldans and ask them to make it painful," Varric suggested. "Their chancellor once explain to me what crucifixtion was, it sounds like just the thing."

Cassandra growled as she led the way past the altar, and Trevelyan guessed she was trying to resist the urge to destroy the platform, but they couldn't take the chance. Instead they went up the stairs, and into the Keep. Apparently whoever was in charge hadn't bothered to bar the gate yet, something they were all grateful for. The soldiers were carrying enough explosives to level the gate, but doing so would almost certainly alert everyone in the city what they were doing.

Cassandra however wasn't going to make the mistake the commander did, and ordered the Keep's entrance barred. As that was being done she drew her sword again, and opened the Keep's front door. It also wasn't locked, but there were guards inside. She immediately was set upon by two of them, until one caught a bolt from Varric's crossbow in the stomach.

Cassandra finished him with a swift blow, then brought her sword up into the neck of the second man. He crumpled and she said, "Come on."

Trevelyan glanced toward the main gates of the city, trying to figure out what was going on, but all he could see was the fact daylight was breaking.

* * *

The Keep's interior was dark, and Cassandra ordered torches lit for the men to see. There wasn't much light even then, but it was better. "The barracks are to the right," Varric said quietly. "That's where most of the guards will be this time of day if they aren't guarding the throne room. The old viscount's office is to the left. There might be someone in there, and will almost certainly be information.

Cassandra nodded, and sent a small group of men to secure the office, and a significantly larger group to barricade the passage leading to the barracks. Finally she led the remaining men straight ahead, toward the throne room.

The room was massive. A statue of Corypheus towered on the far side, and a throne was at its feet. A lone man sat waiting for them. He smiled as he them and said, "I wondered if anyone would make it to me. I have to admit I got a bit bored."

Cassandra froze and demanded, "Who are you?"

"I?" The man asked. "I am Dorian Pavus, governor of this city in service to the Elder One."

"A Tevinter," Cassandra said.

"Quite correct he said happily. He saw something over Cassandra's shoulder and flicked one hand. A horrible energy went past Trevelyan's ear, and he heard the man begin to scream. He glanced back, and saw the man aging rapidly, in less than a minute he collapsed, looking at least one hundred.

Cassandra raised her own hand, and clasped her fingers together. The powers granted to her as a Seeker flew out at Pavus, who raised his staff, and Cassandra's attack simply disappeared. He smiled, and made the same gesture he had before, but this time toward Cassandra. She tried to dive away, but Trevelyan was faster. Acting without thinking he brought the hand bearing the Mark up, and tried to block it. As the magic struck the Mark however he felt himself being dragged forward, a rift opening in front of him as he did so, and a moment later: he was sucked through.

He was dragged into the rift, and saw around him Cassandra, Varric, and all the others die at the hands of Dorian Pavus. One by one they aged to death, their attacks not even reaching him as he used whatever power he had to simply make them disappear.

As he was pulled farther and farther along he saw other events, a Fereldan garrison retreat into the throne room, where they were all slaughtered by a demonic army which burst through the Keep. He watched as more time passed, people, mostly mages, came and went, but they became fewer and fewer. Eventually no one came into the throne room, and it fell into disrepair. The statue of Corypheus fell at some point, and suddenly he found the signs of time slowing, and finally they stopped. He fell from the rift, and immediately vomited.

He vaguely heard a creak from behind him, and vague sounds of shouting in the background. He managed to roll himself over and look up. The ceiling of the throne room was gone. In the sky he could see nothing but a sickly green, the color of the Fade. He thought he had probably been pulled into it, though he wasn't sure what the images he'd seen meant in that case.

Suddenly however there were running footsteps near him, and he looked up to see a man who was quite clearly Dorian Pavus entering the room. He looked somehow older, more haggard. His hair was long and he looked like he had worn the same clothes for months. Trevelyan tried to swipe at him, but found he was too exhausted to raise even a foot.

Dorian said quietly, "I know you are going to hate me, but try to hear the whole story before you kill me. I made a dreadful mistake, we all did. And we spent a long time paying for it..."

Whatever he was going to say was cut off however as another familiar voice said from the doorway, "We were right then. Almost to the day." Trevelyan managed to raise his head enough to look at the speaker, already knowing who it was. William Clark was standing in the doorway, looking older, more lined by stress, and horribly injured. His right arm ended in a stump, and part of his face looked like it had been burned away, with an patch over his left eye. He looked toward Trevelyan and said, "Welcome Maxwell to the years of hell, or as you might call it 9.45 of the Dragon Age."

* * *

 **A/N: Some might be wondering why Varric doesn't seem as bitter at William or the Fereldans in general as the prologue of The Road to Hell implied. This is due to a retcon that I made at the last minute while writing that story. In my initial plan, Varric was supposed to be the only one of Hawke's group who made it out of Kirkwall when the rebellion started. This would have included Hawke himself who would have died alongisde Aveline and Merrill. A friend of mine who read it though suggested that ended the story on an extremely dark note, and made the Fereldans look extremely bad given their involvement. Given that wasn't really what I was going for it was changed at the last minute. Hence Varric's resentment now comes from thinking they should have done more to stop the whole mess in the first place, which he put behind him as time passed.**

 **To guest12: Kirkwall was selected because it was the point the rebellion began. As such it is a massive symbol. Retaking it would be a massive blow to the rebel mages, and a boost to the Chantry forces, which are still very much on the backfoot at this point in the war. In addition, as noted in this chapter, the city is actually fairly lightly defended. Starkhaven is near the Nevarran border, and thus a prime point for Nevarran occupation if they should attack south in addition to the aid being given to the Chantry in Antiva currently. Further north is closer to the front, and so the base for the vast majority of forces available to the rebels. Kirkwall though is far behind the lines, and was thought to be relatively safe against attack due to its position.**

 **The Orlesidan Revolutionaries will appear a bit later as relatively minor antagonists in this story, or at least some of their agents will. They will also appear, and be the core focus, of a 3-5 chapter section following the Fade War which will cover the wars between the revolutionaries and...literally everyone else in Thedas, or at least southern Thedas. I will warn you now, these people are not an improvement from the current Orlesian government, and many of them are much, much worse.**


	10. Chapter 9

**Note:** **While I assume everyone reading this has played Inquisition, there will also be heavy Trespasser spoilers in this chapter. If you haven't played that yet be warned.**

Taken from _The Fade War_ by Solona Amell,

Published 9.57 DA. Republished 10.17 SA. University of Denerim Press

 _The mage governor of Kirkwall to nearly the end-stage of the Fade War was a Tevinter named Dorian Pavus, a man rumored to have experimented with temporal magic. These speculations are absurd for reasons far beyond the scope of this work. For more information see..._

 _Pavus was a tragic figure in many ways. The only son of a high-ranking Tevinter magister he enjoyed a close relationship with his father for most of his life, until the latter's death in the opening battle of the rebellion of the slave Fenris, as well as the death of his good friend Gereon Alexius. When the former Magister Corypheus approached certain ranking mages of the dying Tevinter Imperium Pavus reluctantly agreed..._

 _Despite his acceptance Pavus was reluctant to engage in open fighting against the Andrastian Chantry, and so was instead tasked with holding the city of Kirkwall. Pavus was noted after the war to have been an unswervingly fair governor, enforcing the draconian rules of the self-styled New Tevinter with little enthusiasm, in particular allowing the underground worship of Andraste despite great personal risk..._

Chapter IX

Maxwell Trevelyan awoke in a dark and run-down looking building, which he rapidly realized was actually some sort of basement. He sat up, and immediately felt light headed again. He managed to shake it off and look around a bit. He was on a bed in a room with maybe a dozen others. They all looked old, and worn. Several were simply a mattress with a covering thrown over it.

Before he could stand up a young man looked in and called, "He's awake."

There was a bustle of activity from the other room, and Clark entered. He still looked as horrible as Trevelyan remembered seeing before he'd passed out. Now however he realized the man also had a cane which he was favoring over his right leg. With a sigh Clark fell onto the bed opposite Trevelyan's and sat upright in it before saying, "I imagine you must have a lot of questions." Seeing Trevelyan's look he said, "To start with the basics, as I said, this is the year 9.45, you are currently in an underground bunker in Kirkwall, where a mage attempted to resurrect his wife some twelve years ago. We've been based here for the past year, waiting for you to arrive."

"How did you know I was coming?" Trevelyan asked, he was still too shocked for much to register beyond that."

Clark smiled weakly, "Math. We worked out how much power Dorian put into that attack, matched it up with the energy generated by your mark, measured the ensuing Rift, and worked out the week you'd arrive. The calculations took the better part of two years actually."

Trevelyan hadn't really understood any of that, but he didn't want to say so. Finally, he asked, "Where is everyone?"

"My group is mostly outside. Its night, so things are relatively quiet. They are scavenging what can still be found in the city outside, and trying to avoid the vengeful ghosts that once were the inhabitants. Still, safer than the demons." Clark answered.

"I mean, Cassandra and Varric." Trevelyan said quietly. "I watched them die in the Rift, what happened."

Clark scowled, "They died. Everyone died." He looked Trevelyan in the eye and said, "I mean that. Everyone died. The city outside was massacred in one night when the enemy came. Cassandra and Varric were lucky, they died early, and didn't have to see the end of the world. Our forces were successful in taking the city, but we had to go on with all of you lost. We secured the surrounding area in the months following, and repelled a major attack.

"Then three months afterward Celene was assassinated in her own palace. Orlais collapsed into anarchy immediately. Turns out the rebels weren't as united as we'd thought. Two groups split from Arras in protest. Dozens of groups tried to seize the thrown, and the Empire fell apart. The violence spilled over into Nevarra, and the Nevarran king ordered his troops out of Antiva to contain it. Antiva collapsed a month later. Without Nevarra they couldn't field an army large enough to keep fighting. We kept going, but were steadily pushed back by the freed mage forces. Then, six months after Antiva collapsed King Alistair died without an heir. The apparent choice was Conner Guerrin, but the bannorn refused to follow a mage and they rebelled.

"We couldn't keep going and pulled most of our forces back across the Waking Sea. We managed to leave a small garrison behind, but they were wiped out when the mages assaulted Kirkwall. In Fereldan things spiraled out of control. Conner and his brother were both killed, and there simply was no other heir. The country tore itself apart for months before..." He sighed, "Before I ended the war. There were...weapons that I'd refused to use you see, horrible weapons. Gas mostly. Twenty-thousand men wiped out in one barrage in minutes. Half the banns were killed. But we had to do it. The mages were massing their fleet to attack."

He was clearly holding back tears as he continued, "They invaded in 9.42. We fought for every inch of ground, and we unleashed everything we could on them. The entire city of Amaranthine was turned into a massive bomb and detonated when the mages took it. But they were endless. Bethany...Bethany died in Denerim, she was killed by a Pride Demon in front of me. Leliana was captured in that same battle. Then, the Veil was ripped open again. We never figured out how Corypheus managed it. That was the final straw." He paused, as if thinking for a moment, then said, "How did that passage go? It's been so long. 'He opened the fourth seal. And I beheld a pale horse, and his name that sat upon him was Death. And Hell followed with him.' They swept across Thedas, killing God knows how many. I guess they kept going too, across the oceans and into the north and west. And then, Corypheus's backer revealed himself."

"Backer?" Trevelyan asked, startled at the idea.

"Oh yes," Clark mused. "One of the last people we would have suspected. An elven god apparently. The Dread Wolf."

"Elven god?" Trevelyan said, a bit dubious at that.

Clark nodded, "You've met him in fact." He looked Trevelyan in the eyes and said quite clearly, "Solas."

"Solas?" Trevelyan repeated, sure he must be mishearing.

"Oh yes." Clark said, the venom quite clear in his voice. "Corypheus is a pawn in a much larger plan. At the beginning of 9.43 we declared a truce with him, as it was clear we were both going to lose should Solas win." He sighed, "Didn't matter in the end though. I understand Corypheus is currently wearing Red Lyrium chains somewhere in that forest in Tevinter. Point is, we lost. We lost badly."

"Then it was all pointless," Trevelyan whispered. "I know I wasn't really chosen, but..."

"NO!" Clark said vehemently. "You are the only hope of fixing things. You didn't really think we put that much work into finding you out of kindness, do you?" He smiled again, "We're going to send you back. None of this will have happened."

"How?"

"Carefully," said a voice from behind him. He turned slightly to see Dorian Pavus leaning on the door.

"Problems?" Clark asked, seeing the other man.

Pavus nodded, "It seems the knife-ear worked out where we are. Probably found the magic from his arrival." He nodded to Trevelyan.

Clark sighed, "Gather everyone. We're going to have to try now. How long will the window last?"

"No more than two more days." Pavus said immediately. "Maybe not more than one. This isn't an exact branch of magic."

Clark frowned, then said, "We'll go in three hours. That should give us enough time before daylight to get back up to the Keep. Spread the word."

Pavus nodded again and left. As soon as he was gone Trevelyan asked, "Are you sure he can be trusted?"

Clark shrugged, "No, but he'll follow through. Dorian wanted to resurrect Tevinter, not destroy the world. He'll have to be dealt with when you arrive back in the past." He reached into a small bag and said, "I have something for that actually." After a moment, he pulled an odd pistol out of the bag and said, "This is called a revolver. The one I have in the past is broken, but we worked out how to fix it about a year and a half ago. You'll only have a few shots when you get back, so make them count." Clark stood and said, "We'll need to let you practice shooting on another weapon though. Come on, we have a bit of time."

* * *

Three hours later Trevelyan's hand was almost numb, and his ears were still ringing from the noise the weapon made in the confined space underneath Kirkwall. Clark appeared to be completely unbothered as he limped alongside. Finally, however it was time to surface. There were only about a dozen people in Clark's group. Each of them was carrying a long gun, like those used by the Fereldans. These however had a lever along the bottom, for reasons Trevelyan couldn't even begin to guess.

As he started to puzzle over it however Clark threw his cane away, then floated up in front of the rest of the group, before saying. "This has been a long time coming. Everyone here has lost everything they've ever cared about." There was some nodding from around Trevelyan at that, and he looked closer at everyone. Almost everyone was in their late twenties, and had scars from what was probably a half-dozen fights. More one was missing an ear, and two were missing fingers.

His attention snapped back as Clark said, "But today we end it. When Dorian performs his ritual, the elves will be wiped out, and the rest of the world can rebuild." Trevelyan frowned, that did not sound like the plan so far as he had been informed. "The Herald," Clark gestured to Trevelyan, "has been returned to us by the Maker in this darkest hour. By His holy light we shall prevail."

There came a muted cheer from the assembled men, then as one they said, "Let His will be done."

"On the earth as it is in heaven," Clark intoned. Then he reached for the trapdoor and said, "And up we go."

The trapdoor flung open, and Clark shot upward, apparently unconcerned about the lack of footing, or handholds. The others weren't quite so lucky. They grabbed onto a rickety ladder and climbed up one by one. Trevelyan came last, and he was greeted by a horrific sight. What had been Kirkwall was virtually gone. The building that had housed the underground complex had clearly been leveled at some point in the past, and the rest of Lowtown was the same. Here and there stood a pile of wood and stone that might have once been a building, but there was no evidence of a city. Looking farther he could see more ruins that once would have been Hightown, and sitting above that was the Keep. It was only half-standing.

Worse than that however was the sickly green glow that engulfed everything. It was the same color as the inside of the Rifts, then he guessed this was the Fade itself. As he looked around Trevelyan got the distinct impression that Clark's description had held back some of the details.

This wasn't another Rift, this was a world without a Veil at all. Though he thought to himself, Clark seemed to either not know or not care about the intricacies of the Fade, so he might just not realize it.

The group skulked through the city, avoiding any entrance to Darktown, which Trevelyan thought was odd. When he whispered that to a man beside him the man just shuddered and gestured for silence. Trevelyan obeyed, somewhat reluctantly, then heard shouting from up ahead. He heard Clark swear, and a moment later the man was in the air again, floating ahead of the group.

A moment later Clark said what sounded clearly like, "bang," and a noise like that of the pistol sounded. Then he was overhead and ordered, "They've found us. I killed the scouts, but they'll be out in force now. We need to go faster."

Without another word Clark was above a building, and there was another roar, this one far louder, and soon there were traces of smoke from ahead.

Ahead of him one of the men raised his gun, and fired. There was a sharp crack in the air, and the man worked the lever before continuing forward. They rounded one of the buildings leading into Hightown, and Trevelyan saw a ruined square that might once have been a market. Shattered remains of elves lay among the wreckage, and ahead he heard another explosion. A moment later there was a horrible crash, and as the group headed to the Keep they passed the building which had just been blasted to the ground.

Little by little they moved toward the castle, until finally they were at the base of the stairs. There was a small cheer from the men. They had almost made it. Half stayed at the base of the stairs, fanning out with their rifles, and the rest began upward. At a motion from Dorian, Trevelyan followed, but before he was halfway up a lightning bolt flashed out of the air, blasting two of the remaining six men were instantly killed, and the remainder died as more lightning struck around them.

Trevelyan dove for cover, and saw a tall figure descending from the clouds, and settling on the stairs above them. The figure was clearly an elf, and after a moment he turned his head in Trevelyan's direction, and Trevelyan recognized Solas. With an almost lazy gesture Solas incinerated all six men who had stayed on guard, even as they raised their guns to shoot at him.

"It's futile Maxwell," the elf called. "You didn't really think a force this pathetic could throw you back in time, did you? I've won already. Come out and let me end this." Trevelyan didn't move, but a moment later he felt an invisible force grab him by the arm and drag him back onto the stairs, then shoved him onto his knees in front of the elf. Less than a minute later Dorian joined him. The elf smiled darkly, then raised on finger, pointed it at Dorian's head and said, "Di…"

He was cut off as a beam of light flashed out of the city and struck Solas's hand. The elf yanked it back, but the damaged hand was already healing. He looked up, and said, "A little late aren't you."

"Not yet," Clark said from above them. "And we both know you can't kill them without me finishing you.

Solas stepped back, and said, "Too bad. I nearly killed you in Redcliffe, this time Mythal won't be here to save you." There was a roar of wind and Solas began to rise into the air.

Trevelyan looked up as Clark backed away. He could clearly be heard saying, "Saint Michael the Archangel, defend me in battle. Save me from…"

The rest of his words were drowned out as Solas lashed out at him, and the battle was joined. The tops of the walls surrounding the stair began to disintegrate as Dorian grabbed Trevelyan's arm and said, "Come on. We don't have long before those two rip the city apart."

Trevelyan snapped out of the sight, and began to run up the stairs, Dorian just behind him. As they reached the ruined doors of the Keep he looked back to where the two had been, and saw nothing but a swirling mass of smashed stone and metal from the surrounding area.

The pair raced inside, and Dorian was already fumbling with his amulet when they arrived back in the room the entire trip had started in. He began to work magic through the amulet, pushing power back into exactly the spot Trevelyan had been standing, and as he did so he finally gestured for Trevelyan to stand in the center of the mass of power. With a final word Dorian formed a seal around Trevelyan, and began to push with his magic.

There was a horrible noise from above them, and the last of the roof was swept away as Solas dove down onto them, but then the elf was gone, and Trevelyan found himself hurtling back through time. He watched the room come back into focus, saw the young Dorian raise a hand to point at Cassandra.

With a single motion Trevelyan raised his revolver, leveled it at Dorian, and as the last of the power faded, he fired.

 **A/N: On the matter of Dorian and his father, as I'm sure people will wonder: per my interpretation of Inquisition the attempt by Dorian's father to use blood magic was relatively recent (that is to say, sometime in the past decade), and so was after the initial Point of Departure from the story. Given the background of the two I do not see it as unlikely that his father with a small amount of prompting could have chosen to not attempt blood magic in an attempt to change Dorian to heterosexual. Thus, in the backstory for the Dorian in this story he was not estranged from his father, who instead was killed by Fenris's group. The same goes for both Alexius and Alexius's son.**

 **Also, perhaps more importantly, I needed the temporal magic to happen similar to how it did in game.**

 **As for the powers exhibited, according to my understanding of the game Solas is attempting to bring down the Veil that made the Fade and Thedas separate in the first place. Given the nature of the Fade this should mean that anyone with sufficient control over it/magical power should be able to pull off extraordinary feats, similar to those that William has displayed in previous stories, while within the Fade anyway. As will be shown later, that doesn't mean he necessarily HAS those powers while physically in the Fade in the main T/L. He learned to manipulate the Fade over the years since Solas ripped the Veil from the sky.**

 **And in case anyone is curious, Corypheus was actually killed by Solas as part of the plan to bring the Veil down. The battle Solas is referring to happened just over a year and a quarter before this chapter. Redcliffe was pretty much the only major city in Fereldan (or Thedas really) left at that point, and Solas sent his forces to wipe it out, as it also had the only independent elf population by that point. He and William fought, Solas won, and Flemeth swooped in to battle him as well. She died, or was absorbed as she was in-game, but it gave William time to flee the city with a few survivors, and the prototype lever-action rifles that they hoped would change the tide of the war. None of those were sent back with Trevelyan because no one thought of it.**


End file.
